973.7L63   Pennell,  Orin  H. 
B4P38r 

1899      Religious  Views  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 


LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


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V, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS 


OF 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


Orr/n  Jfcenry 


PRICE,  2    CENTS. 


B.  If.  SOBANTOW  PBI1TTMOI  CO., 
AXJLIAHOB,  OHIO. 


PREFACE. 


q 


The  author  feels  that  no  apology  is  needed  in  giving  out  this 
booklet  to  the  public.  For  several  years,  he  has  sought  to  lay  under 
tribute  everything  which  might  give  light  upon  the  subject  herein 
discussed.  Much  could  be  said  of  the  claims  made  by  Spiritualists 
in  insisting  that  Lincoln  looked  with  favor  upon  their  peculiar  doc- 
trine. Likewise,  the  Universalists  have  come  in  to  announce  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  threw  out  friendly  glances  at  them.  The  author  has 
sufficient  material  upon  the  religious  glimpses  of  Lincoln  to  fill  a 
five  hundred  page  volume.  Had  the  book  been  swelled  to  a  full 
grown  work,  the  price  would  have  limited  its  sale  and  many 
would  never  read  it  because  of  its  size.  The  author  feels  that 
confining  the  matter  in  these  humble  limits,  will  do  more  in 
enlightening  people  in  regard  to  what  Mr.  Lincoln  believed  in 
spiritual  things  than  in  a  more  pretentious  work.  He  has  been 
compelled  to  waive  the  discussions  and  claims  made  by  exponents 
of  different  doctrines,  and  devote  the  entire  work  to  the  question 
whether  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  Christian  or  an  Atheist.  No 
thought  of  money-making  has  prompted  the  attempt  to  give  out 
this  work.  The  price  has  been  placed  at  such  a  figure  as  to  assure 
neither  loss  nor  gain  to  the  writer.  Hoping  that  by  placing  our 
ear  near  the  heart  of  our  great  martyr,  we  may  be  able  to  hear 
him  sing  his  songs  in  the  night. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thous- 
and eight  hundred  and  ninty-nine,  by 

ORRIN  H.  PBNNELL, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


Christianity  needs  not  the  names  of  the  great  and  powerful 
ones  of  earth  to  make  it  respectable  or  worthy  of  acceptation. 
From  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  the  praises  to  our  holy  relig- 
ion arise  like  the  voices  of  many  waters.  From  every  clime  and 
from  every  tongue,  the  name  of  our  Lord  is  exalted.  Nations 
and  rulers  bow  before  Jehovah's  awful  throne.  A  religion  which 
has  drawn  to  its  altars  the  lights  which  have  set  the  measure  to 
the  march  of  civilization,  needs  not  to  claim  its  devotees  among 
those  who  are  uncertain  in  their  religious  tone. 

While  it  adds  nothing  to  the  truth  of  our  holy  religion,  if 
Abraham  Lincoln  received  it  as  a  little  child  receives  gifts  from 
its  parents;  neither  does  it  subtract  from  its  credibilky,  though 
he  rejected  it;  yet  it  is  with  joy  we  read  that  in  the  time  of  trouble 
he  besought  God  to  "hide  him  in  the  secret  of  his  tabernacle." 
It  has  been  one  of  the  favorite  customs  of  the  free-thought  world 
to  fasten  the  badge  of  infidelity  on  all  great  men,  had  such  ones 
ever  expressed  during  their  lifetime  one  word  of  doubt  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  Scriptures  or  to  the  divinity  of  Christ.  Not 
one  of  the  presidents  from  Washington  down  to  Harrison,  accord- 
ing to  the  liberal  press,  were  orthodox  Christian  communicants. 
Washington,  Franklin,  Chase,  Beecher  and  a  host  of  others, 
whose  names  have  adorned  our  political  constellation,  have  been 
laid  under  tribute  by  the  exponents  of  free- thought. 

Was  Abraham  Lincoln  a  Christian  man  ?  What  were  his  views 
in  regard  to  religion  ?  How  did  he  view  the  Bible  ?  These  are 
honest  questions  which  should  not  be  condemned,  regardless  of 
the  source  from  which  they  spring.  It  does  seem  reasonable 
that  after  so  many  years  elapsing  since  his  death,  some  well 
formulated  statement  might  be  given  out  in  response  to  these 
questions.  The  study  of  Lincoln,  today,  amounts  to  little  less 
than  a  mania.  Magazines  teem  with  articles  dealing  with  some 
phase  of  his  life.  Of  the  writing  of  books  there  seems  to  be  no 
end.  His  old  Kentucky  birth-place  has  become  a  Mecca  to  many 


6  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS  OP 

admirers  of  the  man.  Springfield  and  Sagamon  county  have 
literally  been  laid  under  tribute.  Old  neighbors  of  Lincoln  have 
been  interviewed,  courthouses  have  been  ransacked  which  might 
bring  out  anything  old  or  new  concerning  his  earlier  years.  All 
persons  ever  privileged  to  have  interviews  with  him,  and  there  are 
not  a  few,  are  not  slow  in  giving  the  substance  of  the  same  to  the 
world.  Generals,  senators,  governors,  and,  in  fact,  all  who  ever 
had  audiences  with  him  in  regard  to  any  matters,  jealously  retain 
such  rare  moments  in  everlasting  remembrance.  Even  across 
the  Atlantic  his  name  seems  to  have  gathered  fragrance  in  its 
transit.  Dr.  Newman  Hall,  of  London,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
preachers  in  Great  Britain,  declares  that  the  mentioning  of  the 
name  of  Lincoln  to  his  great  congregation  has  an  electrifying 
effect.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  gleaned  concern- 
ing this  great  man,  the  old  question  still  comes  ringing  in  our 
ears:  "Was  he  a  Christian  ?"  It  would  be  a  falsehood  to  attempt 
to  fix  the  name  of  Lincoln  with  any  denomination.  It  would  be 
a  still  greater  folly  to  associate  him  with  any  formulated  creed. 
No  man's  views  among  all  Americans,  has  caused  so  much 
discussion  as  those  of  Lincoln's.  There  are  reasons  for  this:  Mr. 
Lincoln  never  allied  himself  with  any  visible  church.  On  the 
other  hand,  his  life  and  utterances  would  stamp  him  as  a  believer 
of  the  most  ultra  kind.  This  apparent  inconsistency  is  the  founda- 
tion for  all  the  discussion  which  has  arisen  of  late  years  in  regard 
to  the  views  he  entertained  in  matters  of  religion. 

STATEMENT  OF  THE   INFIDEL  PRESS. 

The  "Truth  Seeker"  of  New  York,  the  most  popular  free- 
thought  journal  in  America,  and,  perhaps,  enjoying  the  largest 
circulation  of  any  liberal  paper  published  in  our  land,  made  the 
following  statement  recently:  "In  regard  to  a  Supreme  Being  he 
entertained  at  times  Agnostic  and  even  Atheistic  opinions.  Dur- 
ing the  later  years  of  his  life,  however,  he  professed  a  sort  of 
Deistic  belief,  but  he  did  not  accept  the  Christian  or  anthropomor- 
phic conception  of  a  Deity. 

So  far  as  the  doctrine  of  immortality  is  concerned,  he  was  an 
agnostic. 

He  did  not  beHeve  in  the  Christian  doctrine  of  inspiration  of 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  7 

the' Scriptures.     He  believed  that  Burns  and  Paine  were  as  much 
inspired  as  David  and  Paul. 

He  did  not  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity.  He 
affirmed  that  Jesus  was  either  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  or  the 
illegitimate  son  of  Mary. 

He  did  not  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  special  creation. 

He  believed  in  the  theory  of  evolution,  so  far  as  this  theory 
had  been  developed  in  his  time. 

He  did  not  believe  in  miracles  and  special  providence.  He 
believed  all  things  are  governed  by  immutable  laws,  and  that 
miracles  and  special  providences,  in  the  evangelical  sense  of  these 
terms,  are  impossible. 

He  rejected  the  doctrine  of  total,  or  inherent  depravity. 

He  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement." 

Accompanying  the  above  statements,  was  a  picture  of  Lin- 
coln underneath  the  words,  "Free  thinkers  of  the  past  and  pres- 
ent." 

Two  books  have  found  their  way  to  the  press,  written  ob- 
viously, to  stem  the  current  of  the  fast  growing  opinion  that 
Lincoln  was  a  Christian.  One  book  was  written  by  a  Mr.  John 
E.  Remsburg  of  Atchison,  Kansas.  The  other  by  Mr.  Herndon, 
law  partner  of  Lincoln's  and  an  old  time  skeptic.  The  whole 
burden  of  Mr.  Remsburg's  book  deals  with  the  questions  of  his 
religion.  In  this  volume  he  ingeniously  and  ably  attempts  to 
show  that  Lincoln  was  not  a  Christian.  He  has  brought  into 
requisition,  every  bit  of  evidence  accessible.  Christian  and  liberal 
testimony  is  given,  and  then  with  a  wave  of  his  hand  he  silences 
the  Christian  testimony  by  pronouncing  it  false.  The  other  book, 
by  Mr.  Herndon,  deals  with  the  personal  side  of  Lincoln.  Mr. 
Herndon,  however,  did  not  forget  his  primary  object  in  writing 
his  volume.  The  latter  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  task  of 
removing  the  stain  of  Christianity  thrown  around  Lincoln. 

Ingersol,  in  his  eulogy  on  Mr.  Lincoln,  represents  Lincoln 
as  hostile  to  the  whole  claim  of  Christianity. 


RELIGIOUS   VIEWS  OF 


LINCOLN  FROM  CHILDHOOD  TO  1860. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  the  mother  of  the  president,  was  a  woman  of 
the  deepest  religious  feeling.  Her  character  was  the  most  exem- 
plary, and  she  was  affectionately  devoted  to  her  family.  She  had 
found  time  in  the  midst  of  her  busy  life  to  teach  her  son  to  read 
and  write.  Her  deep  devotional  nature  impressed  inefficably  on 
Abraham  the  love  of  truth  and  justice,  love  and  reverence  for 
God  which  characterized  his  entire  life.  "These  virtues  were 
even  associated  in  his  mind  with  the  most  tender  love  and  respect 
for  his  mother."  Later  in  life  when  the  delicate  form  of  his 
mother  remained  but  as  a  sweet  memory,  he  said:  "All  that  I 
am,  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  angel  mother." 

He  was  not  long  permitted,  however,  to  enjoy  the  devotions 
of  a  mother.     She  died  when  her  son  was  only  nine  years  old. 
"My  boast  is  not  that  I  derive  my  birth 
From  loins  enthroned  and  rulers  of  the  earth, 
But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise, 
The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies." 
Sad,  indeed  was  the  humble   Indiana  home  in  which  the 
mother  breathed  her  last  !     The  lad  would  go  about  his  humble 
work  mechanically,  with  his  heart  pierced.     The  burying  ground 
in  which  she  was  laid  to  rest,  was  perhaps  half  a  mile  from  the 
cabin.     There,  under  a  sycamore  tree  they  dug  the  grave  and 
laid  away  the  mother  of  the  president.     The  funeral  services 
were  in  keeping  with  the  surroundings,  simple  but  solemn.     At 
that  time  there  was  no  minister  to  officiate.     "Perhaps,"  says 
Arnold;  "the  first  practical  use  the  boy  made  of  the  aquisition  of 
writing,  was  to  write  a  letter  to  Rev.  David  Elkin,  a  traveling 
preacher,  whom  the  family  had  known  in  Kentucky,  begging  him 
to  come  over  and  perform  religious  services  over  the  grave  of  his 
mother.     The  preacher  came,  but  not  until  some  months  after- 
wards, traveling  on  horse  back  through  the  wild  forests  to  reach 
their  residence.     There  the  iainily  gathered  with  a  few  of  their 
friends  and  neighbors,  under  the  sycamore  to  hear  from  the  lips 
of  the  minister  an  account  of  the  mother's  life  and  of  the  City 
Beyond. ' ' 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  9 

Mr.  Raymond  in  his  "Life  and  Public  Services  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,"  adds  the  following:  "One  of  the  very  first  efforts  of 
his  faltering  pen  was  writing  a  letter  to  an  old  friend  of  his 
mother's,  a  traveling  preacher,  urging  him  to  come  and  deliver  a 
sermon  over  her  grave.  The  invitation  must  have  been  couched 
in  impressive,  if  not  affecting  language;  for,  although  the  letter 
was  not  written  until  nine  months  after  his  mother's  remains  had 
been  deposited  in  their  last  resting  place,  Parson  Elkins,  the 
preacher  to  whom  it  was  extended,  responded  to  the  request,  and 
three  months  subsequently,  just  a  year  after  her  decease,  preached 
a  sermon  commemorative  of  the  virtues  of  one  whom  her  neigh- 
bors still  held  in  sacred  and  respectful  remembrance.  It  is  said 
that  the  parson  in  his  discourse,  alluded  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  received  the  invitation.  "His  faith  in  Divine  Providence 
began  at  his  mother's  knee,  and  ran  through  all  the  changes  of 
his  life.  Not  orthodox,  not  a  man  of  creeds,  he  was  a  man  of 
simple  truth  in  God."  (Arnold's  Life  of  Lincoln.) 

The  boyhood  of  Lincoln  was  not  characterized  by  anything 
supernatural.  Says  one  of  his  biographers  (Col.  John  Hay.) 
"We  are  making  no  claim  of  saintship  for  him.  He  was  merely 
a  good  boy,  with  sufficient  wickedness  to  prove  his  humanity." 

From  his  boyhood  until  he  settled  in  Springfield,  there  Is 
very  little  known  of  the  religious  tone  of  Lincoln  which  is  reliable. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  while  he  resided  in  New  Salem,  he  was 
thrown  continually  into  the  society  of  Free  Thinkers.  One  of 
these  associates  has  risen,  up  and,  in  a  reckless  way,  portrays 
Lincoln  as  a  monster.  He  claims  he  went  to  church  only  to 
scoff.  That  he  would  mock  the  preachers,  and  ridicule  prayer. 
One  of  these  men  has  gone  so  far  that  he  even  claims  Lincoln  to 
have  written  a  book  against  Christianity.  Another  claims  it  as 
only  a  tract;  while  still  another  believes  it  to  have  been  an  essay. 
This  supposed  booklet  is  claimed  to  have  attacked  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  Christianity.  The  work,  however,  was  suppressed  by  his 
friends,  they  fearing  thac  it  would  annihilate  his  popularity  and 
future  political  prospects.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the 
author  of  these  sweeping  charges  has  been  silenced  in  his  traduc- 
tion.  Persons  whose  names  were  coupled  in  these  assertions, 
have  promptly  disclaimed  any  knowledge  of  the  stains  charged 


10  RELIGIOUS   VIBWS  OF 

against  Lincoln.  The  probability  is  that  the  whole  matter  is  a 
sheer  fabrication.  Possibly,  his  faith  faltered  in  those  days.  He 
read  Volney,  Paine,  Hume,  Gibbon,  and  other  liberal  books. 
His  friends  of  the  liberal  faith  have  attempted  to  make  much 
capital  out  of  such  reading.  It  proves  nothing.  Many  a  genuine 
orthodox  minister  has  gone  through  all  ot  these  works  without 
implicating  himself.  Again  the  enemies  of  Christianity  claim  that 
because  of  his  logical  mind,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  reason 
by  faith.  This  is  too  absurd.  Let  them  forget  not  that  Copernicus, 
Kepler,  and  Newton  were  earnest  Christians  who  saw  the  hand- 
writing of  God  in  the  works  of  nature  ! 

In  Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  the  following 
appears:  "There  was  no  institution  in  Springfield  in  which  Lin- 
coln had  not  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  first  year  of  his  resi- 
dence, and  now  that  he  had  decided  to  remain  in  the  town,  he 
resumed  all  his  old  relations,  from  the  daily  visits  to  the  drug 
stores  on  the  public  square,  which  were  the  recognized  rendezvous 
of  Springfield  politicians  and  lawyers,  to  his  weekly  attendance 
at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  That  he  was  as  regular  in  his 
attendance  on  the  latter  as  on  the  former,  all  his  old  neighbors 
testify." 

In  1851,  his  father  lay  dying.  He  wrote  a  letter  of  consola- 
tion addressed  to  his  half  brother,  John  Johnson.  Lincoln  writes: 
"I  sincerely  hope  father  may  recover  his  health,  but  at  all  events, 
tell  him  to  remember  to  call  upon  and  confide  in  our  great  and 
good  and  merciful  Maker,  who  will  not  turn  away  from  him  in 
any  extremity.  He  notes  the  fall  of  a  sparrow,  and  numbers  the 
hairs  of  our  heads,  and  He  will  not  forget  the  dying  man  who 
puts  his  trust  in  Him." 

Of  the  genuineness  of  this  letter,  there  never  has  been  any 
question.  In  another  part  of  this  same  letter  he  adds:  "Say  to 
him  if  it  be  his  lot  to  go  now,  he  will  soon  have  a  joyous  meeting 
with  loved  ones  gone  before,  and  where  the  rest  of  us,  through 
the  help  of  God,  hope  ere  long  to  join  him." 

There  are  several  remarkable  statements  in  this  epistle.  He 
fully  acknowledges  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  He  partially  quotes  one 
of  the  most  endearing  expressions  of  our  Savior  and  applies  it  to  the 
father's  state.  He  believes  in,  yea,  he  longs  for  an  immortality. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  II 

While  residing  in  Springfield,  he  oftentimes  was  called  upon 
to  deliver  temperance  addresses.  More  than  once,  he  addressed 
Sunday  School  and  Bible  Society  Conventions.  In  every  good 
work,  he  was  conspicuous.  The  Bible  was  consulted  and  quoted 
as  freely  as  Blackstone.  After  1845,  he  very  seldom  made  a 
speech  without  alluding  to  the  Scriptures. 

Events  from  1850  to  1860  traveled  fast.  The  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  the  outrages  in  Kansas,  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision,  and  John  Brown's  raid,  had  raised  the  country  to  a  high 
pitch  of  excitement.  In  the  succession  of  these  events  came  the 
Chicago  Convention  which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
President.  There  were  already  rumors  of  secession  in  the  air. 
President  Buchanan  had  allowed  the  conspirators  of  the  nation  to 
sit  in  the  cabinet  and  carry  out  their  treasonable  designs.  All 
felt  that  some  crisis  was  imminent.  The  Democratic  party  by  the 
division  of  its  power,  was  overthrown  in  the  presidential  election. 


THE  FAMOUS  BATEMAN  INTERVIEW. 

During  the  exciting  time  from  Lincoln's  nomination  until 
his  inauguration,  he  was  given  rooms  in  the  state  house  in  which 
he  received  delegations  of  friends  who  came  to  pay  him  their 
respects.  Hon.  Newton  Bateman  was  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  at  the  time,  and  occupied  rooms  in  the  same  building 
These  men  became  very  intimate.  Oiten,  when  crowds  of  people 
had  dispersed  for  the  night,  Mr.  Bateman  would  slip  into  Lincoln's 
room  and,  there,  they  would  spend  an  hour  discussing  the  politi- 
cal movements  which  were  stirring  the  land.  According  to  Hol- 
land's "Life  of  Lincoln,"  the  following  conference  took  place: 
"On  one  of  these  occasions  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  a  book  contain- 
ing a  careful  canvass  of  the  city  of  Springfield  in  which  he  lived, 
showing  the  candidate  for  whom  each  citizen  had  declared  it  his 
intention  to  vote  in  the  approaching  election.  Calling  Mr.  Bate- 
men  to  a  seat  at  his  side,  having  previously  locked  all  the  doors, 
he  said:  'Let  us  look  over  this  book.  I  wish  to  see  particularly 
how  the  ministers  of  Springfield  are  going  to  vote. '  The  leaves 
were  turned,  one  by  one,  and  as  the  names  were  examined  Mr. 


12  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS   OF 

Lincoln  frequently  asked  if  this  one  and  that  were  not  a  minister, 
or  an  elder,  or  the  member  of  such  a  church,  and  sadly  expressed 
his  surprise  on  receiving  an  affirmative  answer.  In  that  manner 
they  went  through  the  book,  and  then  he  closed  it  and  sat  silently 
and  for  somfi  minutes  regarding  a  memorandum  in  pencil  which 
lay  before  him.  At  length  he  turned  to  Mr.  Bateman  with  a  face 
ful  of  sadness  and  said:  'Here  are  twenty-three  ministers,  of 
different  denominations,  and  all  of  them  are  against  me  but  three; 
and  here  are  a  great  many  prominent  members  of  the  churches,  a 
very  large  majority  of  whom  are  against  me.  Mr.  Batemau,  I 
am  not  a  Christian — God  knows  I  would  be  one  but  I  have  care- 
fully read  the  Bible,  and  I  do  not  so  understand  this  book,'  and 
he  drew  from  his  bosom  a  pocket  New  Testament,  'these  men 
will  know,'  he  continued,  'that  I  am  for  freedom  in  the  territor- 
ies, freedom  everywhere  as  far  as  the  Constitution  and  laws  will 
permit  and  that  my  opponents  are  for  slavery.  They  know  this, 
and  yet,  with  this  book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which 
human  bondage  cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going  to  vote 
against  me.  I  do  not  understand  it  at  all.'  Here  Mr.  Lincoln 
paused — paused  for  long  minutes — his  features  surcharged  with 
emotion.  Then  he  rose  and  walked  up  and  down  the  room  in  the 
effort  to  regain  or  to  retain  his  self-possession.  Sloping  at  last, 
he  said  with  a  trembling  voice  and  his  cheeks  wet  with  tears.  'I 
know  there  is  a  God  and  that  He  hates  injustice  and  slavery.  I 
see  the  storm  coming,  and  I  know  that  His  hand  is  In  it.  If  He 
has  a  place  for  me,  and  I  think  He  has,  I  believe  I  am  ready.  I 
am  nothing,  but  truth  is  everything.  I  know  I  am  right,  for 
Christ  teaches  it,  and  Christ  is  God.' 

The  effect  of  this  conversation  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  Bateman, 
a  Christian  gentleman  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  profoundly  respected, 
was  to  convince  him  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had,  in  his  quiet  way, 
found  a  path  to  the  Christian  standpoint,  that  he  had  found  God 
and  rested  on  the  eternal  truth  of  God.  As  the  two  men  were 
about  to  separate,  Mr.  Bateman  remarked:  'I  have  not  supposed 
that  you  were  accustomed  to  think  so  much  on  this  class  of  sub- 
jects. Certainly  your  friends  are  ignorant  of  the  sentiments  you 
have  expressed  to  me. '  He  replied  quickly:  "I  know  they  are. 
I  am  obliged  to  appear  different  to  them;  but  I  think  more  upon 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  13 

these  subjects  than  upon  all  others,  and  I  have  dotie  so  for  years; 
and  am  willing  that  you  should  know  it.'  " 

For  years,  infidels  have  tried  to  get  over  this  Bateman  affair. 
Hon.  Newton  Bateman  was  well  known  throughout  the  state  of 
Illinois.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  qualities.  No  one  ever 
questioned  his  honesty  or  truthfulness,  until  this  conversation 
was  given  out  to  the  world.  Some  of  the  friends  of  free  thought 
have  come  out  and  boldly  denied  the  whole  story  as  a  falsehood. 
Others  have  admitted  that  the  interview  took  place  and  that  Lin- 
coln denounced  the  ministers  and  churches  as  above  stated, 
accounting  for  the  small  vote  Lincoln  received  in  Springfield  to 
his  skeptical  sentiment  which  he  was  always  expressing.  Still 
other  enemies  of  the  church,  seeing  an  opportunity  of  giving 
Christianity  a  thrust,  received  the  conversation  as  a  fact  thereby 
showing  where  ministers  and  churches  stood  on  the  slavery 
question.  They  deny  the  latter  part  of  the  interview,  however, 
explaining  that  Mr.  Bateman  was  excited  or  agitated  and  over- 
represented  the  interview.  Another  scheme  has  been  advanced 
to  invalidate  this  story.  The  Batemau  interview  was  first  given 
out  in  Holland's  "Life  of  Lincoln."  One  infidel  writer  affirms 
that  Holland  put  his  story  of  Bateman's  in  his  book  without  con- 
sulting Bateman  himself.  That  ,'after  the  book  was  published 
Bateman  was  urged  to  put  out  a  denial  to  the  whole  matter. 
This  writer  continues  to  say  that  the  only  reason  assigned  by 
Bateman  for  not  disavowing  it  was  that,  "my  aversion  to  publicity 
in  such  matters  is  intense."  In  all  of  these  attempts  to  destroy 
the  story,  the  truth  has  bacome  more  self-evident. 


HIS  LAST  HOUR  IN  SPRINGFIELD. 

The  morning  he  left  his  old  home,  a  large  number  of  his  old 
neighbors  accompanied  him  to  the  depot.  As  he  stood  upon  the 
platform  of  the  car  he  uttered  the  following  words:  "My  friends: 
No  one,  not  in  my  position,  can  realize  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this 
parting.  To  this  people  I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Here  my  children  were  born 
and  here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall 


14  RELIGIOUS  VIBWT  OP 

see  you  again.  I  go  to  assume  a  task  more  difficult  than  that 
which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington. He  never  would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of 
Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel 
that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  Divine  blessing  which 
sustained  him;  and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my 
reliance  for  support.  And  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray 
that  I  may  receive  the  Divine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot 
succeed,  but  with  which,  success  is  certain.  Again,  I  bid  you  an 
affectionate  farewell." 

This  farewell  speech,  like  the  Bateman  interview,  has  receiv- 
ed a  great  deal  of  attention  from  those  who  would  claim  Lincoln 
an  infidel.  They  would  have  the  world  to  understand  that  these 
pathetic  and  pious  words  of  Lincoln,  were  but  the  request  that 
they  should  wish  him  well.  Some  newspapers,  in  commenting 
on  these  farewell  words,  call  them  "Old  Abe's  Latest  Joke." 
They  were  words  which  came  from  a  soul  bowed  down  with  the 
thought  of  a  burden  so  soon  to  be  laid  upon  him.  His  old 
neighbors  understood  them  as  words  coming  from  a  heart  acquaint- 
ed with  grief.  When  a  little  more  than  four  years  later,  his  body 
was  borne  into  the  state  house,  the  following  couplet,  in  allusion 
to  his  departure  was  placed  over  its  door: 

"He  left  us  borne  up  by  our  prayers; 
He  returns  embalmed  in  our  tears." 

Rev.  Dr.  Birch  who  was  a  witness  to  his  departure  adds  the 
following:  "As  I  stretched  my  vision  across  the  thirty-four  years 
which  have  rolled  away  since  the  rainy  morning  of  February  i  ith, 
1 86 1,  I  count  that  brief  experience  one  of  the  great  privileges  of 
my  life.  The  lapse  of  time  only  deepens  the  impression  of  the 
long,  gaunt  form  with  its  thoughtful  face,  as  in  the  true  simplic- 
ity of  his  real  greatness,  Abraham  Lincoln  lingers  on  the  rear 
platform  of  the  car  to  take  his  last  look  at  the  old  home  and  to 
say  his  last  words  to  his  townsmen." 

President  McKinley  states  that  the  night  before  the  good 
president  left  Springfield,  to  start  on  his  way  to  Washington,  a 
friend  from  Chicago  sent  him  a  flag  of  our  country,  bearing  these 
words,  taken  from  the  first  chapter  of  Joshua,  and  written  upon 
its  silken  folds:  "Have  I  not  commanded  thee;  be  strong  and  of 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  15 

good  courage;  be  not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed,  for  the 
Lord,  thy  God  is  with  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.  There 
shall  not  any  man  be  able  to  stand  before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy 
life.  As  I  was  with  Moses,  so  shalt  I  be  with  thee." 

The  Psalmist  says,  "Thy  statutes  have  been  my  song  in  the 
house  of  my  pilgrimage."  As  he  journeyed  across  the  country 
to  the  seat  of  the  government,  all  along  his  circuitous  route,  he 
failed  not  to  declare  to  the  people  that  he  was  going  forth  in  the 
name  of  the  Living  God  of  Israel.  Truly  God's  statutes  became 
the  song  of  his  pilgrimage! 

At  Columbus  he  said:  ''I  turn  then  to  God  for  support  who 
has  never  forsaken  the  people.  A  reliance  on  God."  At 
Steubenville:  "Nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my  part,  if  sustained 
by  the  American  people  and  God."  At  Buffalo:  "I  must  trust  in 
that  Supreme  Being  who  has  never  forsaken  this  favored  land." 
At  Albany:  "I  still  have  confidence  that  the  Almighty,  the 
Maker  of  the  universe,  will  bring  us  through  this."  At  New 
York  City:  "Aided  by  the  wisdom  of  Almighty  God."  At  New- 
ark: "I  am  sure,  however,  that  I  have  not  the  ability  to  do  any- 
thing unaided  of  God."  At  Trenton:  ''I  shall  be  most  happy, 
indeed,  if  I  shall  be  an  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty,  and  of  this  his  most  chosen  people,  as  the  chosen 
instrument,  also  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  of  perpetuating 
the  object  of  that  great  struggle."  At  Philadelphia:  "I  have 
said  nothing  but  that  I  am  willing  to  live  by.  and,  if  it  be  the 
pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  die  by." 


LINCOLN  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

Perhaps,  there  never  was  a  ruler  who  felt  and  believed  in  the 
intervention  of  God  in  human  affairs  to  such  an  extent  as  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  There  might  be  given  a  good  sized  volume  of 
matter,  showing  his  belief  in  special  Providence. 

When  a  young  man,  Lincoln  made  his  second  trip  down  to 
New  Orleans  with  a  cargo  of  produce.  After  having  disposed  of 
the  cargo,  he  and  one  of  his  fellow  boatmen,  sauntered  through 
one  of  the  great  slave  marts.  Here  were  gathered  planters  from 


1 6  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OP 

all  parts  of  the  South  West.  Black  men  and  women  were  arrang- 
ed in  rows  for  sale.  The  auctioneer  would  show  their  good  qual- 
ities by  inviting  his  purchasers  to  examine  them  as  you  would  so 
many  horses  or  mules.  Should  any  of  the  slaves  happen  to  be 
Christians,  and  the  fact  known  to  the  crier,  he  would  boldly 
proclaim  it  hoping  thereby  to  get  a  higher  figure.  Again  and 
again  the  hammer  fell.  Husbands  separated  from  wives,  parents 
from  children,  brothers  from  sisters.  Lincoln  and  his  friend 
witnessed  these  doings.  His  lips  quivered,  and  his  voice  choked 
in  his  throat  as  he  turned  to  his  companion  and  said:  "If  ever  I 
get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing,  I  will  hit  it  hard  by  the  Eternal 
Goo." 

Dr.  David  Gregg  in  commenting  over  this  New  Orleans 
scene  makes  the  following  comment:  "Who  is  he  to  hit  the 
"thing"  a  blow?  He  is  only  a  boatman,  a  splitter  of  rails,  a 
teamster,  a  backwoodsman,  nothing  more.  His  poverty  is  so 
deep  that  his  clothes  are  in  tatters.  What  position  of  influence 
or  power  is  he  likely  to  attain  to  enable  him  to  strike  a  blow  ?  The 
"thing"  which  he  would  like  to  hit  is  incorporated  into  the  frame 
work  of  society,  and  legalized  in  half  the  states  composing  the 
Republic.  It  is  intrenched  in  church  and  state  alike.  It  is  a 
political  force,  recognized  in  the  Constitution.  It  enters  into  the 
basis  of  representation.  Is  there  the  remotest  probability  that  he 
ever  will  be  able  to  smite  such  an  institution  ?  Why  utter  these 
words  ?  Why  raise  the  right  hand  to  heaven  and  swear  the 
solemn  oath  ?  Was  it  some  dim  vision  of  what  might  come  to 
him  through  Divine  Providence  in  the  unfolding  years  ?  Was  it 
an  illumination  of  the  Spirit  forecasting  for  the  moment  the  im- 
pending conflict  between  right  and  wrong  in  which  he  was  to 
take  a  conspicuous  part?  Was  it  a  whisper  by  a  divine  messen- 
ger that  he  was  to  be  the  chosen  one  to  wipe  the  "thing"  from 
the  earth,  and  give  deliverance  to  millions  of  his  fellow  men  ? 
Was  it  not  rather  the  mind  and  heart  and  power  of  God  planted 
deep  in  the  depth  of  his  very  being  and  abiding  there  with  an 
holy  impatience  waiting  for  the  clock  of  destiny  to  strike  ?" 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  17 


HEARING  REV.  PETER  AKERS  PREACH. 

Dr.  Akers  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  preachers  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  during  the  days  when  slavery  was 
the  great  bone  of  contention.  He  unsparingly  denounced  slav- 
ery as  a  sin,  and  a  sin  which  would  receive  a  merited  punishment 
from  God  in  his  own  good  time.  In  1837,  Lincoln,  with  a  com- 
pany of  friends,  visited  a  camp-meeting  a  few  miles  out  of  Spring- 
field, on  which  occasion  Dr.  Akers  preached.  On  this  occasion 
the  preacher  painted  the  wickedness  of  slavery  in  all  its  cruel 
form.  He  predicted  a  great  war  which  would  follow  this  blighting 
curse.  That  slavery  would  receive  its  death  through  the  struggle. 
He  also  pictured  how  the  nation  would  receive  a  new  baptism 
of  freedom  when  the  sin  was  no  more. 

On  returning  from  this  service  the  preacher's  sermon  was  the 
only  subject  of  discussion.  Lincoln  remarked:  "It  was  the  most 
instructive  sermon  and  he  is  the  most  impressive  preacher  I  have 
ever  heard.  It  is  wonderful  that  God  has  given  such  power  to 
men.  I  firmly  believe  his  interpretation  of  prophecy,  so  far  as  I 
understand  it,  and  especially  about  the  breaking  down  of  civil 
and  religious  tyrannies,  and  odd  as  it  may  seem,  when  he  describ- 
ed those  changes  and  revolutions,  I  was  deeply  impressed  that  I 
should  be  somewhat  strangely  mixed  up  with  them." 

In  1849  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  Joshua  Speed,  concerning  his 
own  social  troubles:  "Whatever  He  designs,  He  will  do  for  me. 
'Stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord'  is  my  text  now." 

In  the  North  American  Review  of  1896,  the  following  from 
the  pen  of  Ex  Senator  James  F.  Wilson,  illustrates  the  feeling  of 
the  president  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war.  Mr.  Wilson  with 
several  other  gentlemen,  had  called  upon  the  president  eliciting 
information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  army  and  its  movements. 
After  each  of  the  callers  had  given  his  views  concerning  slavery 
and  the  advisability  of  an  immediate  proclamation,  he  responded 
as  follows,  "My  faith  is  greater  than  yours.  I  not  only  believe 
that  Providence  is  not  unmindful  of  the  struggle  in  which  this 
nation  is  engaged,  that  if  we  do  not  do  right  God  will  let  us  go 
our  own  way  to  our  ruin;  and  that  if  we  do  right,  He  will  lead  us 


1 8  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF 

safely  out  of  this  wilderness,  crown  our  arms  with  victory,  and 
restore  our  dissevered  union,  as  you  have  expressed  your  belief; 
but  I  also  believe  He  will  compel  us  to  do  right  in  order  He  may 
do  these  things,  not  so  much  because  we  desire  them  as  that  they 
accord  with  His  plans  of  dealing  with  this  nation,  in  the  midst  of 
which  He  means  to  establish  Justice.  I  think  that  He  means 
that  we  shall  do  more  than  we  have  yet  done  in  the  furtherance 
of  His  plans  and  He  will  open  the  way  for  our  doing  it.  I  have 
felt  His  hand  upon  me  in  great  trials  and  submitted  to  His  guid- 
ance, and  I  trust  that  as  He  shall  further  open  the  way,  I  will  be 
ready  to  walk  therein,  relying  on  His  help  and  trusting  in  His 
goodness  and  wisdom." 

It  can  readily  be  seen  that  every  time  Mr.  Lincoln  expressed 
himself  in  regard  to  the  dispensation  of  Providence,  he,  on  each 
occasion,  breathes  out  a  strong  faith  in  the  Almighty.  As  the 
war  progressed  he  more  clearly  saw  the  mysterious  movements 
of  God.  At  last  he  saw  himself  as  we  now  see  him,  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  God. 

After  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  given  to  the 
world,  colored  people,  wherever  the  grand  message  went,  nearly 
went  wild  with  delight.  On  plantations  their  weeping  was 
turned  into  joy;  in  churches,  where  they  were  wont  to  assemble 
for  worship,  their  souls  mounted  high  in  Thanksgiving  to  God 
for  their  emancipator.  Colonel  McKay  who  was  a  member  of  a 
committee  to  investigate  the  conditions  of  the  colored  people, 
alter  having  reported  his  investigation  to  the  president,  related 
to  him  how  the  lately  freed  slaves  looked  upon  him  as  their  lib- 
erator. Mr.  Lincoln  replied:  "It  is  a  momentous  thing  to  be  the 
instrument,  under  Providence,  of  the  liberation  of  a  race." 

Those  were  eloquent  days  when  one  man  held  the  key  which 
would  bid  a  whole  race  rejoice.  Long  had  prophets  of  freedom 
foretold  that  happy  day.  For  years  all  over  the  north  the  friends 
of  the  lowly  had  cried  themselves  to  sleep  with  the  burning 
thought  that  part  of  the  people  were  in  chains.  The  friends  of 
the  oppressed  had  been  killed,  incarcerated  and  insulted  by  the 
slave  oligarchy.  They,  too,  were  more  defiant  each  year. 
Nothing  would  satisfy  them  until  their  blood  hounds  could  lac- 
erate their  victims  under  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill.  Now  it 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  19 

looked  as  though  human  slavery  had  fed  on  its  last  victim.  The 
veteran  abolitionist  saw  his  day  and  was  glad.  Already  the 
president  had  hinted  that  the  Constitution  granted  him  the  power 
to  remove  slavery  as  a  military  measure.  He  still  waited  !  Con- 
gress was  not  unmindful  of  the  great  moment.  The  friends  of 
human  slavery  were  bringing  to  bear  their  best  efforts  to  stay  the 
hand  of  the  emancipator.  It  was  too  late  ?  He  spoke  and  it 
was  done.  As  the  paper  was  brought  to  him  by  the  secretary  of 
State  to  be  signed,  he  said:  "Mr.  Seward,  I  have  been  shaking 
hands  all  day  and  my  right  hand  is  almost  paralyzed.  If  my 
name  ever  gets  into  history  it  will  be  for  this  act,  and  my  whole 
soul  is  in  it.  If  my  hand  trembles  when  I  sign  the  proclamation 
those  who  examine  the  document  hereafter  will  say  he  hesitated." 
Then  taking  up  his  pen,  having  rested  his  arm  for  a  moment, 
slowly  and  firmly  wrote  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  smiled  as,  hand- 
ing the  paper  to  Mr.  Seward,  he  said:  "That  will  do."  Then 
was  fulfilled  the  saying  of  him  who  had  exclaimed  thirty  and 
five  years  before:  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  the  accursed 
thing,  I  will  hit  it  hard,  by  the  Eternal  God." 

The  hopes,  prayers,  and  rejoicing  of  these  millions  of  bond- 
men found  expression  in  the  following  words  of  Whittier. 

"We  pray  de  Lord,  He  gib  us  signs 

Dat  some  day  we  be  free; 
De  Norf  wind  tell  it  to  the  pine, 

De  wild  duck  to  de  sea. 
We  tink  it  when  the  church  bell  ring, 

We  dream  it  in  de  dream; 
De  rice  bird  mean  it  when  he  sing, 

De  eagle  when  he  scream . 

De  yam  will  grow,  de  cotton  blow, 

We'll  hab  de  rice  and  corn; 
Oh  neber  you  fear  if  neber  you  hear 

De  driver  blow  his  horn. 

Sing  on,  poor  heart !  your  chant  shall  be 

Our  sign  of  blight  or  bloom — 
The  gala-song  of  liberty, 

Or  death-rune  of  our  doom." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  charged  during  the  war  as  being  too  ambi- 
tious.     His  antagonists    in    the   North   even    dared   whisper, 


20  EEUGIOUS   VIEWS  OF 

"dictator,"  ''usurper,"  "Cromwell."  Some  saw  in  this  kind 
and  gentle  spirit,  only  a  tyrant.  He  was.  indeed,  clothed  in  vast 
power.  No  president  was  ever  so  much  trusted  by  Congress  as 
was  Lincoln.  As  David  said  of  his  God,  "I  will  sing  aloud  of 
thy  mercy.' '  even  so  can  the  world  sing  of  the  beloved  Lincoln. 
It  is  true  that  on  a  question  involving  right  and  wrong  he  would 
not  be  moved.  He  would  reach  over  into  the  national  legislature 
and  make  his  influence  felt  in  that  body.  More  than  once  he 
moved  out  on  certain  political  lines  against  the  advice  of  his 
cabinet.  He  had  reached  that  place  in  his  great  career  that  he 
could  say  with  Paul,  "I  was  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision."  He  was  not  a  fatalist.  Only  interpreting  the  mind  of 
God  and  acting  accordingly  without  fear  or  favor.  Time  has 
vindicated  his  actions.  If  ever  he  erred,  it  was  on  the  side  of 
mercy. 

Says  the  gifted  Henry  Watterson  in  a  most  beautiful,  truth- 
ful and  eloquent  tribute  to  the  great  emancipator:  "Born  as 
lowly  as  the  Sou  of  God,  reared  in  penury  and  squalor,  with  no 
gleam  of  light  nor  fair  surroundings,  it  was  reserved  for  this 
strange  being,  late  in  life,  without  fame  or  name  or  seeming  pre- 
paration, to  be  snatched  from  obscurity,  raised  to  a  supreme 
command  at  a  supreme  moment,  and  intrusted  with  the  destiny 
of  a  nation.  Where  did  Shakespeare  get  his  genius  ?  Where 
did  Mozart  get  his  music  ?  Whose  hand  smote  the  lyre  'of  the 
Scottish  plowman  and  staid  the  life  of  the  German  priest  ?  God 
alone,  and  as  surely  as  these  were  raised  by  God,  inspired  of 
God  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  A  thousand  years  hence,  no  story, 
no  tragedy,  no  epic  poem  will  be  filled  with  greater  wonder  than 
that  which  tells  of  his  life  and  death.  If  Lincoln  was  not  in- 
spired of  God  then  there  is  nothing  on  earth  as  special  providence 
or  the  interposition  of  divine  power  in  the  affairs  of  men." 


ABRAHAM   UNCOLN.  21 


WHEN  DID  LINCOLN  BECOME  A  CHRISTIAN  ? 

Infidels  think  they  have,  forever,  silenced  the  claims  that 
Lincoln  was  a  Christian  on  the  grounds  that  the  defenders  of  the 
faith  disagree  among  themselves  as  to  the  time  when  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  embraced  religion.  One  Free  Thinker  on  comment- 
ing on  the  statement  of  Dr.  Barrows,  concerning  the  date  of  his 
(Mr.  Lincoln's)  conversion,  cynically  adds:  "This  is  the  fifth 
time  Lincoln  gave  his  heart  to  God." 

These  different  testimonies  offered  by  Christians  from  the 
four  quarters  of  our  land,  conflicting  as  to  the  time  alleged  when 
Lincoln  became  a  Christian,  need  not  cause  any  one  to  falter. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Christian  world  has  not  yet  arrived 
at  a  unanimous  conclusion  as  to  what  conversion  is.  Farrar  says: 
"A  conversion  may  be  said  to  be  that  change  in  the  thoughts,  de- 
sires, disposition  and  life  of  a  sinner  which  is  brought  about  when 
the  Holy  Ghost  enters  the  heart  as  the  result  of  the  exercise  of  a 
saving  faith  in  the  atonement,  by  which  the  sinner  is  justified." 

This  is  the  view  held  by  one  man  only.  There  are  multitudes 
of  people,  rich  in  scholarship  and  Christian  experience  as  Farrer, 
who  view  the  whole  subject  in  an  entirely  different  light.  Visible 
and  distinct  bodies  of  communicants  hold  their  indentity  upon 
their  respective  views  of  the  nature  of  conversion.  If  he  ever  be- 
came a  Christian  it  was  entirely  a  matter  of  the  heart.  He  was 
never  baptized  or  received  into  any  visible  church.  It  was  a 
matter  of  a  Christian  experience,  then,  or  nothing.  We  will 
study  his  own  language,  hear  his  own  confessions,  and  mark  his 
life  to  ascertain  whether  he  possessed  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

Frank  Carpenter  who  knew  Lincoln,  perhaps,  as  intimately 
as  any  one  outside  of  his  own  family  expresses  the  following: 
"Mr.  Lincoln,  referring  to  what  he  called  a  change  of  heart,  said 
he  did  not  remember  any  precise  time  when  he  passed  through 
any  special  change  or  purpose,  or  of  heart;  but,  he  would  say, 
that  his  own  election  to  office,  and  the  crisis  immediately  follow- 
ing, influentially  determined  him  in  what  he  called  'a  process  of 
chrystalization,  then  going  on  in  his  mind."  Carpenter  recites 
another  incident  which  adds  to  the  testimony  already  given.  A 


22  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF 

lady  in  the  service  of  the  Christian  Commission  had  occasion  in 
the  prosecution  of  her  duties,  to  have  several  interviews  with  the 
president.  Naturally  their  conversation  would  turn  toward  the 
subject  of  religion.  They  talked  of  Christian  experience  and 
matters  of  a  kindred  nature.  Being  invited  by  the  president  to 
give  her  views  as  to  what  constituted  a  religious  experience,  she 
readily  consented.  After  she  had  clearly  set  forth  her  views,  Mr. 
Lincoln  responded  as  follows:  'If  what  you  have  told  me  is  really 
a  correct  view  of  this  subject,  I  think  I  can  say  with  sincerity, 
that  I  hope  that  I  am  a  Christian.  I  had  lived  until  my  boy 
Willie  died  without  fully  realizing  these  things.  That  blow 
overwhelmed  me.  It  showed  me  my  weakness  as  I  had  never 
felt  it  before  and  if  I  can  take  what  you  have  stated  as  a  test  I 
think  that  I  can  safely  say  that  I  know  something  of  that  change 
of  which  you  speak,  I  will  further  add  that  it  has  been  my  inten- 
tion for  some  time  at  a  suitable  opportunity  to  make  a  public  re- 
ligious profession.' ' 

Dr.  James  Smith,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Springfield,  in  the  days  of  Lincoln's  residence  there  gives  the 
following  testimony:  "It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  prove  that 
while  I  was  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Springfield, 
Mr.  Lincoln  did  avow  his  belief  in  the  Divine  authority  and 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures;  and  I  hold  that  it  is  a  matter  of  the 
last  importance  not  only  at  the  present,  but  all  future  generations 
of  the  great  Republic,  and  to  all  advocates  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  throughout  the  world,  that  this  avowal  on  his  part,  and 
the  circumstances  attending  it,  together  with  very  interesting  in- 
cidents illustrative  of  the  excellence  of  his  character  in  my  pos- 
session vShould  be  made  known  to  the  public."  This  Christian 
gentlemen  then  adds  how  that  he  set  before  Mr.  Lincoln  argu- 
ments advanced  by  the  infidel  world  and  along  side  of  it  he 
placed  arguments  calculated  to  show  the  authenticity  of  the 
Scriptures.  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  careful  examination  of  the  proofs, 
for  ard  against  Christianit}7,  pronounced  the  argument  in  favor 
of  divine  authority  and  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  unanswer- 
able. This  testimony  of  Mr.  Smith's  has  been  confirmed  by 
words  of  attestation  from  Hon.  Ninian  Edwards,  brother-in-law 
of  the  president's  and  also  from  people  still  living  who  were 
formerly  members  of  Dr.  Smith's  church. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  23 

Mr.  Noah  Brooks,  newspaper  correspondent  and  a  bosom 
friend  of  Lincoln's  while  he  was  president,  gives  us  many  pen 
pictures  of  the  personal  side  of  Lincoln's  life.  He  gives  us  the 
following  glimpses  of  the  man.  "I  never  tried  to  draw  anything 
like  a  statement  of  his  views  from  him,  yet  he  freely  expressed 
himself  to  me  as  having  'a  hope  of  blessed  immortality  through 
Jesus  Christ. '"  Again  he  comments  upon  Lincoln:  "once  or 
twice,  speaking  to  me  of  the  change  which  had  come  upon  him, 
he  said,  while  he  could  not  fix  any  definite  time,  yet  it  was  after 
he  came  here,  and  I  am  very  positive  that  in  his  own  mind  he 
identified  it  about  the  time  of  Willie's  death.  In  many  conver- 
sations with  him,  I  absorbed  the  firm  conviction  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  at  heart  a  Christian  man,  believed  in  the  Savior,  and 
was  seriously  considering  the  step  which  would  formally  connect 
him  with  the  visible  church  on  earth."  Once  he  said  in  com- 
menting on  the  church  and  its  doings,  "When  any  church  will  in- 
scribe over  its  altars  as  its  sole  qualification  for  membership  the 
Savior's  condensed  statement  of  the  substance  of  both  law  and 
gospel,  'thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,'  that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and  soul.'  ' 

If  Mr.  Lincoln,  himself  cannot  give  any  set  date  when  he 
accepted  Christ,  yet  conscious  of  "Peace  in  believing,"  how 
absurd  it  would  be  for  others  to  attempt  to  fix  that  moment  ! 


24  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS   OF 

LINCOLN  AND  PRAYER. 

Prayer  is  the  burden  of  a  sigh. 

The  falling  of  a  tear, 
The  upward  glancing  of  an  eye, 

When  none  but  God  is  near. 

Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital  breath, 

The  Christian's  native  air, 
His  watchword  at  the  gates  of  death, 

He  enters  Heaven  with  prayer. 

One  of  the  most  conclusive  evidences  showing  the  sincerity 
of  purpose  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  was  that  "Behold  he  prayeth."  If 
praying  to  Jehovah  stamps  a  man  a  believer,  surely  Abraham 
Lincoln  can  be  numbered  among  God's  annointed.  He  made 
supplications  to  God  in  secret  as  well  as  in  public.  He  announced 
it  in  official  papers,  as  well  as  to  individuals.  Free  Thinkers, 
unable  to  deny  the  fact  of  his  supplication,  come  boldly  forward 
and  inform  us  that  Lincoln's  praying  must  not  be  confused  with 
the  orthodox  prayers.  Mr.  Herndou,  the  old  law  partner  of  Lin- 
coln, and  a  notorious  exponent  of  infidelity  attempts  to  analyze 
Lincoln's  prayers.  He  employs  the  following  words  to  show 
forth  prayer:  "Did  Mr.  Lincoln  believe  in  prayer  as  a  means  of 
moving  God  ?"  Mr.  Herndon,  referring  to  Lincoln's  last  farewell 
address  at  Springfield,  when  he  asked  his  townsmen  to  pray  for 
him,  comments  as  follows:  "These  expressions  are  merely  con- 
ventional. They  do  not  prove  that  Mr.  Lincoln  believed  that 
prayer  is  a  means  of  moving  God.  He  believed,  as  I  understood 
him,  that  human  prayer  did  the  prayer  good;  that  prayer  was  but 
a  drum  beat — the  taps  of  the  spirit  on  the  living  human  soul, 
arousing  it  to  acts  of  repentance  for  bad  deeds  done,  or  inspire  to 
a  loftier  and  higher  effort  for  a  nobler  and  grander  life. ' '  Of  all 
the  definitions  given  to  prayer  this  is  certainly  the  most  novel 
yet  known.  The  man  who  offers  this  exposition  on  prayer  is  the 
same  gentleman  who  refused  to  believe  in  Lincoln's  conversation 
in  Washington  on  the  score  that:  ''If  Mr.  Lincoln  changed  his 
religious  views  he  owed  it  to  me  to  warn  me."  In  other  words 
he  feels  that  Lincoln  would  certainly  have  informed  him  had  he 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  25 

ever  been  converted.  While  it  might  be  comforting  to  the  hearts 
of  some  prophets  and  followers  of  Paine  to  hang  unto  these  words 
of  Herndon  in  an  almost  idolatrous  way,  receiving  them  as  the 
last  words  and  will  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  hear  the  great  man 
speak  for  himself  is  far  more  gratifying.  On  one  occasion  a 
friend  was  talking  to  him  about  the  burden  of  government  which 
was  pressing  him  toward  the  grave.  He  was  reminded  by  his 
friend  that  millions  of  people  were  praying,  not  to  be  heard  of 
men,  in  his  behalf.  He  caught  the  words,  "not  to  be  heard  of 
men."  "Yes,"  says  Lincoln,  "I  like  that  phrase,  "not  to  be 
heard  of  men,"  and  guess  it  is  generally  true  as  you  say;  at  least 
I  have  been  told  so  and  I  have  been  a  good  deal  helped  by  just 
that  thought." 

The  interview  which  Gen.  James  F.  Rusling  had  with  Lin- 
coln immediately  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  is  sufficiently 
conclusive  to  sweep  away  the  last  vestige  of  infidelity  urged 
against  the  man. 

The  story  has  been  given  to  the  public  of  late  years.  It  is 
not  so  late,  however,  to  be  considered  apocryphal.  General 
Sickles,  who  is  still  living,  fully  confirms  the  story.  It  is  of  such 
paramount  importance  that  the  entire  interview  will  be  given. 

Says  General  Rusling:  "The  next  time  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  on  July  5,  1863 — the  Sunday  after  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg. He  had  come  down  from  the  Soldiers'  Home  with  his  little 
son,  "Tad,"  to  call  on  General  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  of  New  York, 
who  had  arrived  in  Washington  that  morning,  having  lost  a  leg 
at  Gettysburg.  I  also  had  called  to  see  Sickles  (my  corps  com- 
mander then),  and  was  there  still  when  Lincoln  was  announced. 
They  shook  hands  cordially,  if  not  pathetically,  and  after  many 
inquiries  about  the  killed  and  wounded  and  how  the  latter  was 
faring,  Mr.  Lincoln  passed  next  to  the  fact  of  our  victory  at 
Gettysburg,  and  what  Meade  proposed  to  do  with  it.  Sickles, 
of  course,  answered  him  warily,  as  became  so  astute  a  man  and 
soldier,  and  got  his  side  of  the  story  of  Gettysburg  well  into  the 
President's  mind  and  heart  and  presently  inquired  whether  he 
and  the  cabinet  had  not  been  a  little  anxious  about  affairs  there  ? 
Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  the  cabinet  had  but  he  had  not;  and  then 
went  on  to  make  candid  confession  that  in  the  very  pinch  and 


26  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS   OF 

stress  of  the  Gettysburg  campaign  he  had  gone  to  the  Almighty 
in  secret  prayer.  He  said  he  told  the  Lord  this  was  His  country, 
and  the  war  was  His  war,  but  that  we  could  not  stand  another 
Fredericksburg  or  Chancellorsville;  and  that  he  then  and  there 
made  a  solemn  vow  with  his  Maker  that  if  He  would  stand 
by  us  at  Gettysburg  he  would  stand  by  Him;  and  then 
he  added:  'And  He  did,  and  I  will!'  He  said,  after  thus 
praying,  he  didn't  know  how  it  was,  but  somehow  a  sweet 
comfort  crept  into  his  soul  that  God  Almighty  had  taken  the 
whole  business  there  into  His  hands,  and  we  were  bound  to  win 
at  Gettysburg. 

Afterward,  in  the  same  interview,  he  added  he  had  also  been 
praying  over  Vicksburg,  because  we  needed  it  so  badly  in  order 
to  bisect  the  Confederacy  and  save  Mississippi  to  the  Union,  and  he 
somehow  had  faith  that  Grant  was  going  to  win  down  there  too. 
He  said  he  didn't  want  it  repeated  then;  some  might  laugh; 
but  it  was  a  solemn  fact  that  he  had  prayed  mightily  over  both 
Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg,  and  verily  believed  our  heavenly 
Father  was  somehow  going  to  take  care  of  the  American  republic. 
Of  course  Mr.  Lincoln  did'  not  know  that  Vicksburg  had  already 
fallen  and  that  a  Union  gunboat  was  then  on  its  way  up  the 
Mississippi  to  Cairo  with  the  glorious  news  that  was  soon  to  thrill 
the  country  through  and  through. 

Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  ! — our  great  twin  victories  ! 
What  were  they  not  to  us  in  that  fateful  summer  of  1863  ?  And 
what  would  have  happened  to  the  American  Republic  had  both 
gone  the  other  way.  Of  course  it  will  not  do  to  say  that  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  faith  and  prayers  saved  us  there;  but  they  certainly 
did  not  do  the  Union  any  harm.  And  his  serene  confidence  in 
victory  there  because  of  these  (or  resulting  therefrom),  was  some- 
thing beautiful  to  behold  on  that  memorable  July  5,  1863. 

I  never  saw" Mr.  Lincoln  again.  In  November,  1863, 1  was 
ordered  west  to  Tennessee,  and  was  there  still  in  1865,  when  he 
was  assassinated.  But  this  conversation  made  a  deep  impression 
and  I  need  scarcely  add  settled  the  question  of  his  religious  faith 
with  me  and  General  Sickles  forever.  Whatever  Mr.  Lincoln  may 
have  been  in  earlier  years  and  under  narrower  conditions,  it  is 
certain  that  our  great  war,  as  it  proceeded  involving  a  whole  con- 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  27 

tinent  with  world-wide  and  timelong  results,  sobered  and  steadied 
him  and  anchored  him  on  God  as  the  supreme  Ruler  of  nations  as 
a  like  experience  sobered  and  anchored  William  of  Orange  and 
Cromwell  and  Washington;  and  in  the  end  Abraham  Lincoln  be- 
came a  ruler  worthy  to  rank  with  even  these.  Of  all  the  great 
figures  of  our  civil  war,  L/incoln  alone  looms  up  loftier  and 
grander  as  the  years  roll  on,  and  his  place  in  the  pantheon  of 
history  is  secure  forever." 


28  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS  OF 


LINCOLN  AND  THE  BIBLE. 

"The  rolling  sun,  the  changing  light, 
And  nights  and  days,  Thy  power  confess, 
But  the  best  volume  Thou  hast  writ, 
Reveals  Thy  justice  and  Thy  grace." 

At  the  beginning  of  this  work,  a  statement  was  set  forth 
showing  just  what  the  infidel  world  credited  to  Lincoln  as  being 
his  views  touching  the  salient  features  of  a  religious  belief.  This 
is  one  of  the  assertions:  "He  did  not  believe  in  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  believed 
that  Burns  and  Paine  were  as  much  inspired  as  David  and  Paul. ' ' 
In  another  place  the  following  statement  is  made  which  is  yet 
bolder:  "He  wrote  a  book  against  the  Bible."  Burns,  we  never 
shall  forget,  was  one  of  Lincoln's  favorite  authors.  This  great 
genius  of  Scotland,  however,  became  enslaved  by  the  rum  power 
and  bowed  himself  down  at  its  shrine.  With  all  his  greatness  of 
heart;  with  all  his  hatred  of  vice  and  hypocrisy,  his  last  days  were 
clouded  by  the  sin  of  intemperance. 

Thomas  Paine,  the  man,  who  for  some  time  was  a  good 
patriot  and  for  a  still  longer  time,  a  writer  against  the  Bible  and 
whose  last  days  were  spent  in  attempting  to  villify  the  noble 
Washington,  is  placed  alongside  of  Burns;  and  these  two  men  are 
brought  forward  to  receive  the  same  credit  for  inspiration  as  David 
and  Paul. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Lincoln  was  familiar  with  the  writ- 
ings of  all  the  above  named  authors.  Did  Lincoln  really  com- 
pare the  two  profane  authors  with  the  two  sacred  authors  in  re- 
gard to  inspiration,  or  was  it  another  reckless  statement  born  in 
the  mind  of  some  enemy  of  God's  word  ? 

In  the  Lincoln  Museum  at  Washington  City  there  is  an  old 
copy  of  the  Bible.  It  shows  that  it  has  been  well  studied,  its 
pages  are'well  worn  by  constant  handling.  On  the  inside  of  the 
cover  are  [these  words  in  the  hand- writing  of  its  owner:  "A. 
Lincoln,  his  own  book." 

This  is  the  book  that  received  the  same  attention  as  did 
Blackstone.  In  his  early  triumphs  at  the  bar,  the  Bible  found  a 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  29 

conspicuous  place  in  his  pleadings.  His  political  addresses  were 
pregnant  with  selections  from  the  Scriptures.  His  joint  discus- 
sions with  Douglass  abound  with  thoughts  arid  quotations  selected 
from  the  Sacred  Writ.  The  friends  of  Free  Thought  have  tried 
to  explain  this  wholesale  use  of  the  Scriptures  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
with  very  poor  results.  They  allege  that  since  the  Bible  abounds 
in  rich  imagery  and  wealth  of  language,  the  president  employed 
it  without  any  other  thought  than  its  literary  and  rhetorical 
features.  This  explanation  would  be  quite  satisfactory  had  Lincoln 
been  cut  off  at  the  beginning  of  his  presidency.  We  will  see  that 
his  public  and  private  utterances  in  his  later  life  clearly  demon- 
strate whether  he  looked  oa  the  Bible  as  merely  a  human  pro- 
duction or  whether  it  was  given  to  the  world  by  inspiration.  His 
famous  declaration,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand," 
is  borrowed  from  the  New  Testament. 

Did  he  employ  this  expression  because  it  seemed  to  suit  the 
occasion  or  because  it  was  found  in  the  Scriptures  and  thus  was 
truth?  Again,  he  in  writing  to  his  brother  in  regard  to  his 
father's  sickness  says:  "He  notes  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  and  num- 
bers the  hairs  of  our  head."  Did  he  select  these  words  in  the 
presence  of  his  dying  father  because  of  their  literary  adaptation 
or  because  they  are  words  of  consolation  dropped  from  the  lips  of 
the  Savior  ?  About  a  year  before  his  assassination,  in  a  conver- 
sation with  his  old  time  friend,  Joshua  Speed,  he  remarked  I  am 
profitably  engaged  in  reading  the  Bible.  Take  all  of  this  book 
upon  reason  that  you  can  and  the  balance  on  faith,  and  you  will 
live  and  die  a  better  man." 

The  colored  people  of  Baltimore,  desirous  of  showing  their 
love  for  their  emancipator,  presented  him  with  a  beautiful  copy 
of  the  Scriptures.  After  the  presentation  address  was  concluded 
he  responded  in  the  following  language:  "In  regard  to  the  Great 
Book  I  have  only  to  say,  that  it  is  the  best  gift  which  God  has 
given  to  man.  All  the  good  from  the  Savior  of  the  world  is  com- 
municated through  this  book."  If  Lincoln  believed  the  Bible  to 
be  an  uninspired  volume,  why  did  he  employ  such  extravagant 
words  ?  Did  he  do  it  to  tickle  their  ears?  If  he  did  he  could  be 
no  less  than  a  hypocrite.  Now,  if  he  felt  that  the  Scriptures  were 
only  a  man-arranged  scheme,  it  was  his  duty  to  tell  these  poor, 


30  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS   OF 

deluded  negroes  that  they  were  mistaken.  A  man  who  could  write 
a  fatherly  letter  to  Hooker,  telling  him  of  his  weakness;  a  man 
who  had  the  fortitude  to  express  his  opinion  to  a  Democratic 
delegation  from  Ohio  in  regard  to  Vallandigham  had  certainly  the 
moral  strength  to  make  known  his  views  in  regard  to  that  Book ! 
No,  those  words  of  his  on  this  occasion  were  the  expression  of  his 
heart. 

His  second  inaugural  address  is  perhaps  the  most  quoted 
document  ever  given  out  by  any  American  President.  He  there 
remarked:  "Both  read  the  same  Bible."  Why  was  this  sentence 
thrown  into  his  address?  One  writer  whose  views  are  hostile  to 
Christianity  remarks  as  follows  in  regard  to  the  expression  quoted 
above:  "What  a  commentary  upon  the  hypocritical  assumption 
that  Christians  possess  an  infallible  moral  standard,  is  contained 
in  the  above  words."  This  sage  of  free  thought  assumes  that 
Lincoln  had  an  old  time  grudge  against  the  Bible  and  Christian- 
ity in  general  and  thus  takes  the  occasion  on  his  second  inaugural 
to  air  his  views.  Of  all  the  comments  on  that  last  inaugural 
address,  the  words  of  this  infidel  expositor  are  the  most  ridicu- 
lous. 

Mr.  Arnold,  commenting  on  this  address  of  the  president's, 
uses  the  following  beautiful  words:  "Since  the  days  of  Christ's 
sermon  on  the  mount,  where  is  the  speech  of  emperor,  king  or 
ruler,  which  can  compare  with  this?  May  we  not,  without  irrev- 
erence, say  that  passages  of  this  address  are  worthy  of  that  holy 
Book,  which  daily  he  read,  and  from  which,  during  his  long  days 
of  trial,  he  had  drawn  inspiration  and  guidance?  Where  else,  but 
from  the  teachings  of  the  Son  of  God,  could  he  have  drawn  that 
Christian  charity  which  pervades  the  last  sentence  in  which  he  so 
unconsciously  describes  his  moral  nature:  'With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives 
us  to  see  the  right.'  No  other  state  paper  in  American  annals, 
not  even  Washington's  farewell  address,  has  made  so  deep  an  im- 
pression upon  the  people  as  this."  He  adds  further:  "This paper 
in  its  solemn  recognition  of  the  justice  of  Almighty  God,  reminds 
us  of  the  words  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets." 

Chief  Justice  Chase  administered  the  oath  of  office  to  the 
president.  After  this  part  of  the  ceremony  was  over  Mr.  Ijn- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  31 

coin  kissed  the  Bible  which  was  open  before  him.  His  lips  touched 
the  ajth  and  28th  verses  of  the  5th  chapter  of  Isaiah.  The 
verses  read  thus:  "None  shall  be  weary,  nor  stumble  among  them; 
none  shall  slumber  nor  sleep;  neither  shall  the  girdle  of  their 
loins  be  loosed,  nor  the  lachet  of  their  shoes  be  broken,  whose 
arrows  are  sharp,  and  all  their  bows  bent,  their  horses'  hoofs  shall 
be  counted  like  flint,  and  their  wheels  like  a  whirlwind." 

All  in  all  it  was  the  most  impressive  inaugural  service  ever 
witnessed.  The  day  of  the  ceremony  had  been  stormy  until  the 
hour  of  twelve.  Then  the  Sun  came  out  from  behind  the  dark- 
ness illuminating  the  large  assembly  who  had  gathered  to  witness 
the  inaugural.  This  time,  too,  the  Chief  Justice  who  adminis- 
tered the  oath  of  office  had  a  heart  that  was  right  toward  the 
Union.  On  the  former  occasion  four  years  before,  that  magis- 
trate's heart  was  with  the  South.  Four  years  before,  he  was  an 
untried  man  from  the  prairies;  on  this  occasion  the  nation,  yea, 
the  whole  world  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  of  the  age. 


32  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF 


HIS  RELATION  TO  THE  SABBATH. 

"Hail  to  the  Sabbath  day  ! 

The  day  divinely  given. 
When  men  to  God  their  homage  pay, 

And  earth  draws  near  to  heaven. 

The  Temple  is  the  arch 

Of  yon  unmeasured  sky; 
The  Sabbath,  the  stupendous  march 

Of  vast  eternity." 

The  Sabbath  is  the  citadel  of  American  institutions.  It  has 
been  assaulted  by  foreign  and  domestic  foes. 

Anarchists,  agnostics,  saloon  keepers,  and  imported  relig- 
ious doctrines,  savoring  strongly  of  eastern  mixture,  are  found 
arrayed  against  this  bulwark  of  freedom.  One  exponent  of  infi- 
delity declares  that:  "Lincoln  himself  attached  no  more  sanctity 
to  Sunday  than  to  other  days.  He  worked  on  Sunday  himself. 
In  Springfield  his  Sundays  were  frequently  spent  in  preparing 
cases  for  court.  In  company  with  his  boys  he  often  passed  the 
entire  day  making  excursions  into  the  country  or  rambling 
through  the  woods  that  skirted  the  Sangamon.  He  seldom  went 
to  church  either  in  Springfield  or  Washington."  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Smith,  already  quoted,  declares  that  he  usually  attended  church 
with  his  wife.  This  Dr.  Smith  was  for  a  long  time  pastor  of  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  Springfield.  He  was  highly  respected  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  who  appointed  him  to  a  consulship  in  Scotland. 

How  does  his  Sabbath  profanation  measure  up  with  the  fol- 
lowing general  order  in  regard  to  Sabbath  observance  in  the  pub- 
lic service  ?  The  order  was  given  Nov.  i6th,  1864:  "The  Presi- 
dent, Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  desires  and 
enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of  the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and 
men  in  the  military  and  naval  service.  The  importance  for  man 
and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest,  the  sacred  rights  of 
Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best 
sentiment  of  Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine 
will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  Army  and  Navy  be  reduced 
to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity.  The  discipline  and  character 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  33 

of  the  national  forces  should  not  suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend 
be  imperiled  by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or  the  name  of  the 
Most  High.  'At  this  time  of  public  distress  (adopting  the  words 
of  Washington  in  1776),  men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the  ser- 
vice of  their  God  and  their  country  without  abandoning  them- 
selves to  vice  and  immorality.' "  The  first  general  order  issued 
by  the  Father  of  His  Country  after  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence indicated  the  spirit  in  which  our  Institutions  were  founded 
and  should  ever  be  defended.  "The  General  hopes  and  trusts 
that  every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act  as  be- 
comes a  Christian  soldier,  defending  the  dearest  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  his  country."  In  enlarging  on  this  remarkable  order, 
one  of  his  biographers  adds:  "the  date  of  this  remarkable  order 
leaves  no  possibility  for  insinuation  that  it  sprang  from  any 
political  purpose  or  intention.  Mr,  Lincoln  has  just  been  re- 
elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority;  his  party  everywhere  was 
triumphant;  his  own  personal  popularity  was  unbounded;  there 
was  no  temptation  to  hypocrisy  or  deceit.  There  is  no  expla- 
nation of  the  order  except  that  it  was  the  offspring  of  sincere  con- 
victions."  As  usual,  there  are  always  some  apologists  of  free 
thought  ready  to  fully  explain  the  words  and  acts  of  the  president. 
One  offers  the  following:  "This  document  gives  expression  to 
sentiments  regarding  the  sanctity  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  that 
Lincoln  personally  did  not  entertain.  It  was  issued  to  appease 
the  clamor  of  the  clergy  who  demanded  it,  and  was  drafted,  not 
by  Lincoln,  but  by  some  pious  Sabbatarian."  Very  little  is 
known,  indeed,  of  the  clergy  besieging  the  president  to  issue  an 
army  order  in  regard  to  Sabbath  observance.  Every  author  of 
the  life  of  Lincoln  tells  the  same  story,  however,  that  how  from 
the  assault^on  Fort  Sumpter  until  the  emancipation  was  given 
out,  he  was  importuned  by  delegation  after  delegation  to  issue  an 
emancipation  proclamation.  It  would  be  just  as  reasonable  then, 
to  say  that  Lincoln  at  heart  was  not  in  the  matter  but  he  submit- 
ted to  the  clamor  of  the  people.  One  infidel  writer  explains 
away  all  of  the  references  to  Providence,  prayer,  Sabbath  observ- 
ance, etc.,  by  declaring  it  some  of  "Seward's  nonsense." 


34  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS   OF 

While  Mr.  Lincoln  was  president,  he  was  responsible  for 
every  act  of  the  government.  If  any  order  or  statement  was  given 
out  without  his  knowledge  or  against  his  views,  it  was  his  duty 
to  disavow  the  whole  matter.  This  he  did  do  in  regard  to  the 
Mason  and  Slidell  affair.  Also,  when  Generals  Fremont  and 
Hunter  issued  orders  in  regard  to  the  liberation  of  slaves,  he 
quickly  corrected  such  proclamations.  Would  it  seem  reasonable 
then  that  Secretary  Seward  could  sit  in  the  cabinet  for  almost 
five  years  with  the  president  continually  writing  state  papers 
without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  president  ?  Infidels 
would  have  us  believe  that  Secretaries  Chase,  Stanton  and  Seward 
added  to  or  took  from  the  body  of  the  president's  papers  at  their 
will.  If  such  were  the  case  we  will  never  be  able  to  ascertain 
from  whom  emanated  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  the 
Thanksgiving  Proclamation,  or  the  issuing  of  the  call  for  the 
first  seventy- five  thousand  troops.  No,  we  will  never  think  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  controlling  his  administration  with  his  hands 
tied.  It  would  rob  him  of  his  greatness.  It  would  reduce  him 
to  an  effeminate  character  bowing  to  the  dictate  of  higher  powers. 

But  if  it  will  be  contended  that  the  president  acquiesced  to 
the  clamor  of  his  advisers,  being  at  heart  opposed  to  these  senti- 
mental expressions  of  religion  appearing  in  his  state  papers,  the 
following  matter  ought  to  silence  such  ones  for  all  time.  This 
document  was  penned  when  the  fate  of  the  Republic  seemed  to 
have  hung  in  a  balance.  It  is  a  paper  which  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote 
in  September,  1862,  while  his  mind  was  burdened  with  the  great- 
est question  of  his  life.  The  future  of  the  country  looked  dark. 
Not  one  star  of  hope  appeared .  Already  thousands  of  lives  had 
been  offered  on  their  country's  altar.  A  large  portion  of  his 
own  party  was  dissatisfied  with  him.  Jealously  was  rife  in  the 
army.  The  counsel  of  friends  was  unavailing.  The  Confeder- 
acy was  gaining  sympathy  and  prestige  in  Europe.  Wearied 
with  all  the  considerations  of  law  and  expediency  with  which  he 
had  been  struggling  for  two  years,  he  withdrew  himself  into  se- 
clusion of  mind.  As  Moses  retired,  for  a  time,  from  the  scenes 
of  his  labors  and  drew  up  into  the  Mount  with  Jehovah,  leaving 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  35 

the  cares  at  its  base,  so  did  Lincoln  rise  above  the  wrangling  of 
men  and  parties  and  ponder  the  relation  of  human  government  to 
the  Divine.  In  this  frame  of  mind,  absolutely  separated  from 
any  earthly  consideration,  he  wrote  this  meditation.  It  was 
written  not  to  be  seen  of  men.  It  was  written  in  the  awful  sin« 
cerity  of  a  perfectly  honest  soul  trying  to  bring  itself  into  a 
closer  communion  with  its  Master. 

"The  will  of  God  prevails.  In  great  contests  each  party 
claims  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God.  Both  may  be 
and  one  must  be  wrong.  God  cannot  be  for  and  against  the 
same  thing  at  the  same  time.  In  the  present  civil  war  it  is  quite 
possible  that  God's  purpose  is  something  different  from  the  pur- 
pose of  either  party;  and  yet  the  human  instrumentalities, working 
just  as  they  do,  are  of  the  best  adaptation  to  effect  his  purpose. 
I  am  almost  ready  to  say  that  this  is  probably  true.  That  God 
wills  this  contest,  and  wills  that  it  should  not  end  yet.  By  his 
mere  great  power  on  the  minds  of  the  now  contestants,  he  could 
have  either  saved  or  destroyed  the  Union  without  a  human  con- 
test. Yet  the  contest  began.  And  having  begun,  He  could 
have  given  the  final  victory  to  either  side  any  day.  Yet  the  con- 
test proceeds."  The  probability  is  that  not  one  member  of  the 
cabinet  ever  beheld  this  meditation.  It  was  the  breathing  of  his 
heart  to  be  unheard  by  human  ears.  The  song  of  Mirian  finds 
a  counterpart  in  this  flight  of  human  contemplation  of  the 
majesty  of  God. 


36  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS   OF 

LINCOLN  AND  HIS  RELATION  TO  THE  CHURCH 
AND  THE  CLERGY. 

'•I  love  thy  Church,  O  God! 
Her  walls  before  thee  stand, 
Dear  as  the  apple  of  thine  eye, 
And  graven  on  thy  hand. 

For  her  my  tears  shall  fall, 

For  her  my  prayers  ascend; 

To  her  my  tears  and  toils  be  given. 

Till  toils  and  cares  shall  end. 

Beyond  my  highest  joy 

I  prize  her  heavenly  ways, 

Her  sweet  communion,  solemn  vows, 

Her  hymns  of  love  and  praise." 

It  is  no  wonder  that  in  war,  involving  the  question  of 
human  slavery  and  the  dissolution  of  the  best  government 
ever  organized  by  men,  should  find  such  an  array  of  church 
power  on  the  side  of  freedom.  From  one  end  of  the  loyal 
states  to  the  other,  the  churches  seemed  to  vie  with  each 
other  in  thundering  forth  their  voices  in  behalf  of  humanity 
and  patriotism.  Many  of  the  pupils  of  the  North  for  fifty 
years,  had  championed  the  cause  of  the  oppressed.  Now, 
in  hundreds  of  instances,  ministers  left  their  pulpits  to  go 
forth  and  fight  for  the  same  cause.  The  most  conservative 
churches  were  riot  far  in  the  rear  of  the  most  advanced  in 
bearing  testimony  in  behalf  of  the  Union.  From  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  down  to  the  humble  Quaker  Com- 
munion, religious  bodies  put  themselves  on  record  for  liberty. 
A  small  volume  might  be  written  recording  the  resolutions 
of  assemblies,  conventions,  conferences,  synods,  and  yearly 
meetings.  As  the  war  advanced  each  year  the  tone  of 
these  convocations  became  more  decided.  Only  one  or  two 
fragments  of  these  deliverances  can  here  be  given.  The 
New  School  Presbyterian  Church  lifted  up  its  voice  in  the 
following  strain:  "Since  the  day  of  your  inauguration, 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  .      37 

the  thousands  of  our  membership  have  followed  you  with 
unceasing  prayer,  besieging  the  throne  of  grace  in  your  be- 
half. When  we  look  at  the  history  of  your  administration 
hitherto,  and  at  the  wonderful  way  in  which  the  people 
have  been  led  under  your  guidance,  we  glorify  God  in  you." 

The  president  was  not  unmindful  of  these  testimonies. 
He  responded  to  one  of  these  bodies  in  the  following  words: 
"It  has  been  my  happiness  to  receive  testimonies  of  a  simi- 
lar nature  from,  I  believe,  all  denominations  of  Christians . 
This  to  me  is  most  gratifying  because  from  the  beginning  I 
saw  that  the  issues  of  our  great  struggle  depended  on  the 
divine  interposition  and  favor.  As  a  pilot,  I  have  used  my 
best  exertions  to  keep  afloat  our  Ship  of  State,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  resign  my  trust  at  the  appointed  time  to  another 
pilot  more  skillful  and  more  successful  than  I  may  prove. 
In  every  case  and  at  all  hazards,  the  government  must  be 
perpetuated.  Relying,  as  I  do  on  the  Almighty  Power, 
and  encouraged,  as  I  am  by  these  resolutions  which  you 
have  just  read  with  the  support  which  I  receive  from  Chris- 
tian men,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  use  all  the  means  at  my 
control  to  secure  the  termination  of  this  rebellion  and  will 
hope  for  success. ' ' 

To  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  he  spoke  as  fol- 
lows in  his  benediction  upon  them:  "God  bless  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  Bless  all  the  churches.  Blessed  be  God  who 
in  this  our  great  trial  giveth  us  the  churches." 

The  Quakers  were  placed  in  a  delicate  position  by  the 
war.  One  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Friends,  is  the  op- 
position to  war.  Now,  these  people  hate  slavery  fully  as 
much.  When  the  war  came  and  they  saw  that  it  was 
either  death  to  slavery  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  Union, 
or  slavery  forever  and  anarchy,  they  were  much  perplexed 
as  a  body.  It  was  with  these  conditions  in  his  mind  that 
the  president  sent  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Gurney,  the 
wife  of  a  famous  English  preacher  of  the  communion  of 
Friends. 


38  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS   OF 

"My  esteemed  Friend:  I  have  not  forgotten — probably 
never  shall  forget — the  very  impressive  occasion  when  your- 
self and  friends  visited  me  on  Sabbath  forenoon,  two  years 
ago;  nor  has  your  kind  letter,  written  nearly  a  year  later, 
ever  been  forgotten.  In  all,  it  has  been  your  purpose  to 
strengthen  my  reliance  on  God.  I  am  much  indebted  to 
the  good  Christian  people  of  this  country  for  their  constant 
prayers  and  consolation  and  to  no  one  of  them  more  than 
to  yourself.  The  purposes  of  the  Almighty  are  perfect  and 
must  prevail,  though  we  erring  mortals  may  fail  to  accu- 
rately perceive  them  in  advance.  We  hoped  for  a  happy 
termination  of  this  terrible  war  long  before  this;  but  God 
knows  best  and  ruled  otherwise.  We  shall  yet  acknowl- 
edge His  wisdom  and  our  own  error  therein.  Meanwhile 
we  must  work  earnestly  in  the  best  light  he  gives  us,  trust- 
ing that  so  working  still  conduces  to  the  great  ends  he  or- 
dains. Surely  he  intends  some  good  to  follow  this  mighty 
convulsion,  which  no  mortal  could  make  and  no  mortal 
could  stay.  Your  people,  the  Friends,  have  had  and  are 
having  a  very  great  trial.  On  principle  and  faith  opposed 
to  both  war  and  oppression.  They  can  only  practically  op- 
pose oppression  by  wary  In  this  hard  dilemma,  some  have 
chosen  one  horn  and  some  the  other.  For  those  appealing 
to  me  on  conscientious  grounds,  I  have  done,  and  shall  do, 
the  best  I  could  and  can,  in  my  own  conscience,  under  my 
oath  to  the  law.  That  you  believe  this,  I  doubt  not,  and 
believing  it,  I  shall  still  receive  for  my  country  and  myself 
your  earnest  prayers  to  our  Father  in  heaven." 

Over  against  this  startling  testimony  we  will  insert 
some  words  from  an  infidel  already  quoted  (Remsburg.) 
He  sees  Lincoln  looking  on  the  churches  with  a  frown. 
"No  president,  probably,  was  ever  so  much  annoyed  by  the 
clergy  as  Lincoln.  The  war  produced  an  increased  re- 
ligious fervor,  and  theological  tramps  innumerable,  usually 
labeled  "D.  D.,"  visited  the  White  House  each  with  a 
mission  to  perform  and  a  precious  morsel  of  advice  to  offer." 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  39 

It  is  singular,  indeed,  that  any  man  would  rise  up  and 
make  such  groundless  charges.  Of  the  thousands  of  min- 
isters who  called  upon  Lincoln,  probably  there  was  not  one 
who  ever  received  a  snub  or  an  insult  from  him.  He  lived 
on  the  best  terms  with  all  the  churches.  Such  ministers 
as  Beecher,  Gray,  Simpson,  Sunderland,  Gurley  and  Smith, 
ministers  who  have  visited  him  repeatedly,  and  conversed 
with  him  freely  on  divers  themes,  are  swift  to  bear  testi- 
mony of  his  Christian  sentiments  and  character. 


4O  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS   OF 

HIS  CARICATURES  OF  RELIGION. 

The  churches  of  the  land  often  became  a  butt  against 
his  humor  and  indignation.  In  the  former  case,  he  was 
giving  his  witty  vein  a  treat  without  malice  or  feeling 
against  any  body  or  thing.  Right  or  wrong  ministers  and 
good  people  have  indulged  in  these  pleasantries  from  time 
immemorial  till  the  present  without  being  questioned.  In 
the  case  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  however,  the  enemies  of  Christi- 
anity think  they  have  a  good  case  showing  with  what  ir- 
reverence Mr.  Lincoln  viewed  the  institution. 

On  the  other  hand  when  his  wrath  was  turned  against 
any  church  or  man  it  was  not  to  condemn  Christianity  but 
to  expose  hypocrisy.  He  studied  the  Bible  for  himself. 
He  knew  for  what  Christianity  stood.  When  seeing  a 
church  or  individual  professing  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ 
and  living  or  voting  contrary  to  the  ideas  set  forth  by  the 
sermon  on  the  Mount,  he  was  not  slow  to  expose  such  incon- 
sistency. 

John  the  Baptist,  Christ,  Paul,  Whitefield,  Edwards, 
and  a  host  of  servants  of  God  too  numerous  to  mention, 
have  been  just  as  severe  on  hypocrites  without  ever  being 
branded  as  enemies  of  the  church. 

In  what  is  known  as  "Lincoln's  lost  speech,"  the  fol- 
lowing arraignment  of  the  churches  is  given:  "We  see  it 
in  Christian  statesmen,  and  Christian  newspapers,  and 
Christian  pulpits  applauding  the  cowardly  act  of  a  low  bully, 
who  crawled  upon  his  victim  behind  his  back  and  dealt  the 
deadly  blow."  In  another  part  of  the  same  address,  he  ap- 
peals to  the  people  in  this  fashion:  "Can  we  as  Christian 
men,  and  strong  and  free  ourselves,  wield  the  sledge  or  hold 
the  iron  which  is  to  manacle  a  new  and  already  oppressed 
race?" 

He  denounced  the  ministers  of  Springfield  for  withhold- 
ing their  votes  from  him  when  he  stood  for  freedom  while 
Douglass  stood  for  bondage. 


ABRAHAM    UNCOCK.  4! 

In  his  last  inaugural  address,  he  uncovers  pharisaical 
worship  in  the  following  lines:  "Both  read  the  same  Bible 
and  pray  to  the  same  God,  and  each  invokes  His  aid 
against  the  other.  It  may  seeing  strange  that  any  men 
should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their 
bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces.  But  let  us 
judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged."  In  whatever  way  we 
view  the  president's  denunciations,  we  can  only  see  what  a 
high  conception  be  had  of  what  Christ  taught. 


42  RELIGIOUS   VIEWS  OF 

CHARGE    OF    DEISM    AND    INFIDELITY   IN    HIS 
CAMPAIGNS. 

Lincoln  stood  before  the  people  time  and  again,  as  a 
.  candidate  to  receive  their  suffrage.  He  was  in  his  state 
legislature  for  several  years.  He  sat  for  one  term  in  the 
national  House  of  Representatives.  He  ran  for  United 
States  senatorship  once,  and  stood  up  twice  as  a  candidate 
for  presidency  of  the  republic.  According  to  his  own  testi- 
mony he  never  was  beaten  by  the  people  but  once.  Then, 
as  now,  a  man  who  offered  himself  for  public  office  was 
severly  dealt  with  by  his  antagonists.  The  man  figured 
quite  as  large  in  a  campaign  as  the  principles  for  which  he 
stood.  Lincoln,  not  being  a  member  of  any  church,  was  a 
great  target  at  which  to  shoot.  His  opponents  thought 
that  in  this  fact  they  saw  a  vulnerable  spot.  Regardless  of 
his  opponent's  veneration  for  religion,  the  charge  of  infidelity 
would  be  good  political  ammunition.  The  capital,  however, 
which  his  enemies  hoped  to  make  out  of  the  matter  was  not 
very  productive  of  good  results. 

Lincoln  generally  ran  ahead  of  his  ticket.  Let  it  not 
be  forgotten,  too,  that  the  sections  ot  Illinois  which  elected 
him  to  office  were  not  unknown  to  the  footsteps  of  the 
churches.  That  part  of  the  state  at  an  early  period  was 
settled  by  stalwart  Christians  from  the  eastern  and  southern 
states.  In  his  campaigns  for  the  state  legislature  the  charges 
of  infidelity  were  only  whispered.  Several  years  ago  when 
he  ran  for  Congress  against  the  celebrated  Peter  Cartwright, 
there  were  bold  charges  of  Deism  urged  against  him.  Cart- 
wright  himself  was  not  unfamiliar  to  the  ways  of  political 
campaigns,  having  figured  many  times  prior  to  this  in  such 
matters.  Cartwright  was  one  of  the  most  venerated  and 
unique  figures  in  the  Methodist  Church  at  that  time.  Method- 
ism, even  at  that  period,  numbered  its  people  by  the  thous- 
ands in  that  state.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  a  candidate, 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  43 

known  as  an  avowed  infidel,  and  running  for  office  in  a  dis- 
trict largely  peopled  by  Christian  voters,  would  stand  a  very 
slim  chance  for  office.  It  came  to  pass,  however,  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  ran  far  ahead  of  his  ticket  in  his  campaign 
with  Cartwright.  There  is  only  one  way  to  account  for  this 
phenomenal  vote:  that  the  people  who  knew  him  the  best 
did  not  believe  the  charges.  The  whole  matter  was  only  a 
political  trick  to  reduce  the  vote  for  Lincoln . 

If  we  hearken  to  all  that  is  waged  against  a  candidate 
for  office,  such  a  one  appears  like  a  monster  or  a  miscreant 
of  the  foulest  type.  We  can  never  forget  that  he  who  re- 
poses in  the  tomb  at  Mt.  Vernon  when  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  was  denounced  as  a  dictator,  mimicing  the  ways 
of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe;  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  lamented  and  Christian  president  Garfield  was  accused 
as  a  receiver  of  bribes  while  in  Congress.  Keeping  in  mind 
that  these  things  must  need  come  we  can  clearly  see  why  in 
those  days  of  feverish  excitement  anything  could  be  legiti- 
mately employed  which  might  cripple  the  opposition. 

A  few  years  later  when  Lincoln  measured  strength  with 
Douglass  in  the  senatorial  race,  the  old  charge  of  infidelity 
was  forgotten.  Lincoln  had  not  changed  in  these  few  years, 
but  other  weapons  were  employed  which  might  have  a  more 
telling  effect.  Infidelity,  then,  need  not  probe  into  the  past 
in  order  to  draw  out  comfort  in  this  line.  They  will  find 
out  that  even  in  those  days  the  charge  of  Deism  and  free- 
thought  urged  against  Lincoln  was  indignantly  denied  by 
the  people. 


44  fiEUGIOUS   VIEWS    OF 

MODE  ADOPTED  TO  INVALIDATE  CHRISTIAN 
TESTIMONY. 

In  almost  every  instance  where  an  author  has  attempted 
to  show  Lincoln  to  have  been  a  Christian,  that  author  has, 
at  once,  received  the  most  scathing  vituperation  from  some 
infidel  quarter.  Mr.  Lincoln,  once,  wisely  said,  "By  a 
course  of  reasoning,  Euclid  proves  that  all  the  angles  in  a 
triangle  are  equal  to  two  right  angles.  Now,  if  you  under- 
take to  disprove  that  proposition,  would  you  prove  it  false 
by  calling  Euclid  a  liar?"  In  the  face  of  the  above  well- 
known  saying  of  that  good  man,  his  would-be  admirers  have 
sought  to  cripple  Christian  testimony  by  calling  the  authors 
harsh  names.  To  show  the  desperation  of  their  case,  a  few 
instances  of  these  abusive  criticisms  will  be  noted.  One  of 
the  earliest  and  possibly  one  of  the  best  biographies  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  given  out  is  that  of  Holland.  Mr.  Holland  was  in 
his  day  a  journalist  of  no  limited  influence.  His  skillful 
pen  has  placed  him  in  the  household  of  American  literature. 
The  following  is  the  estimation  put  upon  his  excellent  work 
by  a  follower  of  Paine:  "Holland  parades  the  subject  of  his 
work  as  a  model  of  Christian  piety.  He  knew  that  this  was 
false,  for,  while  he  was  unacquainted  with  Lincoln,  he  had 
been  appraised  of  his  unbelief,  had  been  repeatedly  told  of 
it  before  he  wrote  his  biography.  But  this  did  not  deter 
him  from  asserting  the  contrary.  He  knew  that  if  he  stated 
the  facts  the  clergy  would  condemn  his  book.  They  needed 
the  influence  of  Lincoln's  great  name  to  support  their  crumb- 
ling creed,  and  would  have  it  at  any  sacrifice,  particularly 
when  its  possession  required  no  greater  sacrifice  than  truth." 
The  above  traduction  needs  no  comment. 

Hon.  Isaac  Arnold  also  has  given  to  the  world  a  splendid 
volume  upon  the  life  and  character  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Hon. 
Robert  Lincoln,  son  of  the  great  emancipator,  assures  the 
author  of  this  little  work,  that  Mr.  Arnold  has  well  done  his 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  45 

work  in  describing  his  father's  religious  tone.  Mr.  Arnold 
had  a  large  place  in  his  heart  for  President  Lincoln.  The 
Chicago  district  sent  him  to  the  national  house  of  repre- 
sentatives repeatedly.  He  had  almost  daily  interviews  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  while  he  was  president.  An  infidel  disposes  of 
Arnold  in  the  following  style:  "They  know  that  a  cold  re- 
ception awaits  their  works  unless  they  are  able  to  clothe  the 
character  of  their  subjects  in  the  popular  robes  of  super- 
stition. Mr.  Arnold  realized  this  when  he  wrote  his  'Life 
of  Lincoln.'  He  had  been  most  forcibly  reminded  of  the 
fate  of  two  biographies  of  his  own  subject  which  had  already 
appeared,  Holland's  and  Lamon's.  Holland's  by  catering 
to  the  popular  predjudice,  regardless  of  truth,  had  been 
financially  a  success.  Lamon's  work  by  adhering  to  the 
truth,  regardless  of  popular  prejudice,  had  been  financially 
a  failure.  Determined  to  profit  by  these  examples  and 
intimidated  by  the  threats  and  entreaties  of  those  who  had 
resolved  to  secure  for  Christianity  the  influence  of  the  great 
emancipator's  name,  Arnold  dare  not  give  the  facts  regard- 
ing Lincoln's  religious  belief."  This  man  would  have  us 
believe  that  Arnold  wrote  his  biography  with  only  a  merce- 
nary motive  regardless  of  truth.  Listen  to  what  Hon.  E. 
B.  Washburne  says  on  this  very  point:  "From  the  time  that 
Mr.  Arnold  entered  Congress,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War,  he  became  one  of  the  most  trusted  advisers  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  few  men  outside  of  the  Cabinet  were  more 
frequently  consulted  by  him  in  important  matters.  No  one 
knew  better  Mr.  Lincoln's  thoughts  and  intentions  than  Mr. 
Arnold,  and  no  one  enjoyed  his  confidence  to  a  higher  degree. 
It  may  be  truly  said  that  no  man  was  better  qualified  to 
write  a  series  and  authoritative  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  to 
enlighten  the  public  in  respect  to  the  character,  career  and 
services  of  that  illustrious  man. ' ' 

Dr.  Byron  Sunderland,  a  noble  Christian  minister  of 
Washington  City,  having  given  out  what  he  heard  from 
Lincoln's  own  lips  is  impeached  in  the  following  manner: 


46  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF 

"He  can  probably  put  more  falsehood    and  calumny  in  a 
page  of  foolscap  than  any  priest  out  of  prison. ' ' 

Hon.  Ninian  Edwards,  brother-in-law  of  the  president, 
after  telling  what  he  knew  of  his  noble  relative's  views,  is 
summarily  brought  to  bay  in  the  following  manner  by  an 
orthodox  free  thinker:  "Being  a  believer  in  Christianity 
himself,  he  considered  Lincoln's  infidelity  a  grave  defect  in 
his  character  and  was  vexed  to  see  that  this  controversy  had 
given  it  such  wide  publicity.  To  assist  in  removing  this 
stain,  as  he  regarded  it,  from  his  kinsman's  name,  he  allowed 
to  be  published  over  his  signature  a  statement  which,  unless 
his  memory  was  very  defective  and  treacherous,  he  must 
have  known  was  untrue." 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  47 

HIS  POWER  OF  GIVING  COMFORT. 

"Come,  ye  disconsolate,  wher'er  ye  languish; 

Come  to  the  mercy  seat,  fervently  kneel; 
Here  bring  your  wounded  hearts,  Here  tell  your  anguish; 

Earth  has  no  sorrow  that  Heaven  cannot  heal. 

Joy  to  the  desolate,  light  of  the  straying, 

Hope  of  the  penitent,  fadeless  and  pure, 
Here  speaks  the  Comforter,  tenderly  saying, 

'Earth  hath  no  sorrow  that  Heaven  cannot  cure. ' 

Here  see  the  bread  of  life,  see  waters  flowing, 
Forth  from  the  throne  of  God,  pure  from  above; 

Come  to  the  feast  of  love;  come,  ever  knowing, 
Earth  has  no  sorrow  but  Heaven  can  remove." 

He  was  not  the  Comforter  but  lived  to  bear  witness  of 
the  true  Comforter.  All  around  him  were  bleeding  hearts. 
"In  Rama  there  was  a  voice  heard,  lamentation  and  weep- 
ing, and  great  mourning,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children 
and  would  not  be  comforted,  because  they  are  not."  A. 
widow  of  Boston  had  five  sons  all  of  whom  had  fallen 
for  their  country.  On  learning  of  the  fact  he  hastens  to 
offer  his  condolence  in  the  following  words:  "I  pray  our 
Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your  bereave- 
ments and  leave  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved 
and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  which  must  be  yours  to 
have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom."  - 

As  his  towering  form  leaned  over  the  wounded  Sickles 
when  the  stoutest  heart  scarcely  dared  to  hope  for  the  hero's 
recovery,  Lincoln  could  say,  "You  will  get  well;  I  am  a 
prophet  today."  More  than  once  he  would  go  through  the 
hospitals,  shaking  the  hands  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers, 
inquiring  their  names,  their  state,  and  their  regiments.  He 
would,  sometimes,  pause  and  look  into  their  faces  a  moment 
and  kindly  say:  "God  bless  you. " 


48  RELIGIOUS   VIBWS   OP 

HIS  SUFFERINGS. 

"For  here  in  knotted  cord  and  vein 
I  trace  the  varying  chart  of  years; 

I  know  the  troubled  heart,  the  strain, 
The  weight  of  Atlas  and  the  tears." 

"Again  I  see  the  patient  brow, 

That  palm  erewhile  was  wont  to  press; 

And  now  'tis  furrowed  deep,  and  now 

Made  stnoothe  with  hope  and  tenderness." 

"A  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,"  was 
applied  to  the  Savior.  This  could  have  verily  been  said  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Even  before  he  started  for  Washington, 
he  felt  the  piercing  of  the  thorns  prepared  for  him.  He  ex- 
claims: "I  see  the  storm  coming."  On  his  way  to  the 
seat  of  the  government  plots  had  been  concocted  to  assassi- 
nate him.  They  hated  him  without  a  cause.  In  the  midst 
of  the  mighty  carnage  of  war  his  beloved  son  Willie  died. 
The  blow  well  nigh  overwhelmed  him.  To  a  friend  one 
day  who  was  picturing  to  him  the  happy  end  of  the  war  and 
how  that  his  last  days  would  be  the  best  of  all,  he  replied 
with  pathos  that  language  cannot  describe:  "I  feel  as 
though  I  shall  never  be  glad  any  more." 

After  the  terrible  repulse  at  Fredericksburg,  he  ex- 
claimed: "If  there  is  a  man  out  of  perdition  that  suffers 
more  than  I  do,  I  pity  him.".  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  in 
his  funeral  oration  said  of  him:  "One  morning,  over  two 
years  ago,  calling  upon  him  on  business,  I  found  him  look- 
ing more  than  usually  pale  and  careworn,  and  inquired  the 
reason.  He  replied,  with  the  bad  news  he  had  received  at 
a  late  hour  the  previous  night,  which  had  not  yet  been  com- 
municated to  the  press,  he  had  not  closed  his  eyes  or  break- 
fasted; and  with  an  expression  I  shall  never  forget,  he  ex- 
claimed: 'How  willingly  would  I  exchange  places  today 
with  the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  giound  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.'  Noah  Brooks  gives  the  following  glimpse 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  49 

of  his  affliction:  "I  shall  never  forget  the  picture  of  de- 
spair. He  held  a  telegram  in  his  hand,  and  as  he  closed  the 
door  and  came  toward  us  I  mechanically  noticed  his  face, 
usually  sallow,  was  ashen  in  hue.  The  paper  on  the  wall 
behind  him  was  of  the  tint  known  as  'French  Gray,' and 
even  in  that  moment  of  sorrow  and  dread  expectation  I 
took  in  the  thought  that  the  complexion  of  the  president's 
visage  was  almost  exactly  like  that  of  the  wall.  He  gave 
me  the  telegram  and  in  a  voice  trembling  with  emotion  said, 
'Read  it,  news  from  the  army.'  The  dispatch  was  from 
Gen.  Butterfield,  Hooker's  Chief  of  staff,  addressed  to  the 
War  Department,  and  was  to  the  effect  that  the  army  had 
been  withdrawn  from  the  south  side  of  the  Rappahannock, 
and  was  then  safely  encamped  in  its  former  position.  The 
appearance  of  the  president  as  I  read  these  fateful  word8 
with  trembling  voice  was  piteous.  Never  as  long  as  I 
knew  him  did  he  seem  to  be  so  broken,  so  disspirited,  and 
so  ghostlike.  Clasping  his  hands  behind  his  back,  he 
walked  up  and  down  the  room,  saying  'My  God!  My  God! 
What  will  the  country  say!  What  will  the  country  say!' 

One  day  at  Fortress  Monroe  he  said  to  an  army  officer: 
"Colonel  did  you  ever  dream  of  a  lost  friend,  and  feel  that 
you  were  holding  sweet  communion  with  that  friend,  and 
yet  have  a  sad  consciousness  that  it  was  not  a  reality?  Just 
so  I  dreatn  of  my  boy  Willie. "  Overcome  with  emotion  he 
dropped  his  head  on  the  table  and  sobbed  aloud.  It  was 
just  this  suffering,  too,  that  made  his  faith  in  God  perfect. 
Well  could  he  say  with  David,  "When  my  heart  is  over- 
whelmed lead  me  to  the  rock  that  is  higher  than  I." 


50  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF 


HIS  FAVORITE  LITERATURE. 

His  mood  ranged  over  a  key  board  of  many  octaves,  on 
which  he  played  at  its  extremes.  Now  he  would  be  relish- 
ing a  good,  witty  story  which  chanced  to  come  his  way,  and 
again  he  would  relapse  into  a  gloom  which  was  ghostlike. 
While  his  lighter  vein  would  find  a  treat  in  Nasby's  letters, 
yet,  as  is  well  known,  literature  of  the  pathetic  order  best 
fed  his  sad  nature.  The  mutterings  of  Job  as  he  more  than 
once  admitted,  furnished  him  wholesome  meditation.  The 
two  poems  which  seemed  to  captivate  him  the  most  com- 
pletely were  Holmes's  poem  of  "The  Last  Leaf,"  and  "Oh  ! 
why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud."  It  is  said  he 
never  grew  tired  reciting  these  beautiful  stanzas,  or  wearied 
at  hearing  them  uttered  by  others.  The  last  Sunday  of  his 
life,  he  read  the  following  from  Macbeth:  "Duncan  is  in  his 
grave;  After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well;  Treason  has 
done  his  worst;  nor  steel,  nor  poison,]malice  domestic,  foreign 
levy,  nothing  can  touch  him  farther." 


ABRAHAM  UNCOLN.  51 


HIS  LAST  DAY. 

"He  wrestled  ceaselessly  through  four  black  and  dread- 
ful purgatorial  years,  when  God  was  cleansing  the  sins  of 
the  people  as  by  fire.  At  last,  the  watchman  beheld  the 
gray  dawn.  The  mountains  began  to  give  forth  their  forms 
from  out  the  darkness,  and  the  east  came  rushing  toward  us 
with  arms  full  of  joy  for  all  the  sorrows.  Then  it  was  for 
him  to  be  glad  exceedingly  that  he  had  sorrowed  immeasur- 
ably." He  stood  in  Richmond  where  the  Confederacy 
recently  had  established  it's  headquarters.  He  lived  long 
enough  to  see  their  bows  completely  broken.  His  life  was 
stretched  out  long  enough  to  see  that  his  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  would  forever  be  held  sacred  by  the  Ameri- 
can people.  Despite  the  fact  that  he  had  a  presentiment 
that  he  would  not  long  survive  the  war,  the  last  day  of  his 
life  was  a  happy  one.  Like  a  boy  fresh  from  school,  he  was 
just  coming  out  of  a  dreadful  nightmare.  He  was  intoxi- 
cated with  joy.  No  more  blood  to  be  spilt  was  ointment  to 
his  tender  heart.  He  was  assassinated  in  a  theatre.  We 
would  have  ordered  it  otherwise.  The  free  thought  world 
has  reminded  the  church  of  this  fact.  They  insist  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  showed  his  irreverance  for  the  church  by  going  to  a 
place  of  amusement  generally  proscribed  by  the  churches. 

Mr.  Miner,  an  old  friend  and  neighbor  of  the  president, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Boston  Christian  Leader,  states  the  follow- 
ing: "Mrs.  Lincoln  informed  me  that  the  last  day  he  lived 
was  the  happiest  day  of  his  life.  The  very  last  moment  of 
his  conscious  life  was  spent  in  conversation  with  his  wife 
about  his  future  plans  and  what  he  wanted  to  do  when  his 
term  of  office  expired.  He  said  he  wanted  to  visit  the  Holy 
Land  and  see  those  places  hallowed  by  the  footprints  of  the 
Savior.  He  said  there  was  no  city  he  so  much  desired  to 
see  as  Jerusalem  and  with  the  word  half  spoken  on  his 
tongue  the  bullet  from  the  pistol  of  the  assassin  entered  the 


52  RELIGIOUS  VIEW  OF 

brain  and  the  soul  of  the  great  and  good  president  was 
carried  by  the  angels  to  the  New  Jerusalem  above." 

Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  the  theatre  that  fatal  night  more 
to  gratify  others  than  to  gratify  himself.  He  along  with 
Grant  was  advertised  to  be  present.  General  Grant  was 
called  away  to  a  neighboring  city,  thus  the  president  went 
in  order  to  not  dissappoint  any  one.  When  the  intelligence 
of  his  death  reached  the  people,  their  grief  could  not  be 
concealed.  Mourners  went  about  the  street.  No  man  could 
stand  up  and  apologize  for  the  crime  and  live.  As  the  re- 
mains of  the  great  and  good  man  were  borne  across  the 
country  to  his  western  home,  the  people  lifted  up  their 
voices  at  his  coming  and  wept. 

His  face  in  death  had  a  Christ-like  appearance.  His 
features  easily  recalled  his  words  so  lately  uttered,  "With 
malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all."  His  name  is  now 
sweet  to  the  ears  of  all  people.  He  lifted  his  beloved  land 
high  up  toward  God.  His  wrestlings  with  the  Almighty; 
his  struggles  in  the  garden  of  darkness  and  despair;  his 
trained  heart,  hearkening  to  the  voice  of  the  Father,  will 
ever  associate  him  with  the  best  of  the  Lord's  annointed. 


NOTE. — A   copy  of  RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
will  be  sent  to  any  address,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  25  cents  to 

ORRIN  H.  PENNELL,  NORTH  BENTON,  O. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  URBANA 

973.7L63B4P38R1899  C001 

RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  ALLIA 


30112031798686 


